Yoshihiro Nakayama

Research Interests

Oceanography; polar ocean observations; numerical modeling; model-data synthesis; data assimilation; sea ice; ice shelf; ice-ocean interactions

Education

BS, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nagoya University, Japan 2009
MA, Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Japan 2011
PhD, Natural Sciences, University of Bremen, Germany 2015

Awards

• MEXT Young Scientists' Award, 2025
• AGU Cryosphere Early Career Award, 2024

Research Projects

• Sea-level contribution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet with improved representation of grounding zone dynamics and ocean conditions

  Sea-level contribution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet with improved representation of grounding zone dynamics and ocean conditions

  The mass loss of glaciers and ice sheets will dominate the sea-level budget in the coming century, but current projections of ice loss are affected by uncertainties due to a lack of observations at the model boundaries, especially the ocean. In this project, we will use novel understanding and observations of ice-ocean physics of grounding zone areas, high-resolution ocean modeling in ice shelf cavities, and a coupled ocean-ice-sheet (MITgcm-ISSM) model constrained by satellite observations to improve projections of sea-level change from key regions of West and East Antarctica over the next 10–50 years. Based on prior work, we expect the improved modeling of grounding zone dynamics and ocean circulation to produce higher projections of mass loss, possibly by a factor two. This project is funded by a grant from the NASA Sea-Level Change Team to provide up-to-date, improved, observation-constrained, projections of sea-level change from Antarctica.

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Selected Publications

• Nakayama Y., Greenbaum J.S., Wongpan P., Yamazaki K., Noguchi T., Simizu D., Kashiwase H., Blankenship D.D., Tamura T., Aoki S., Helicopter-based Ocean observations capture broad ocean heat intrusions towards the Totten ice shelf, Geophysical Research Letters, 50(17), e2022GL097864, 2023.
• Nakayama Y., Menemenlis D., Zhang H., Schodlok M., Rignot E., Origin of Circumpolar Deep Water intruding onto the Amundsen and Bellingshausen Sea continental shelves., Nature Communications, 9(1), 1–9, 2018.
• Seroussi H., Nakayama Y., Larour E., Menemenlis D., Morlighem M., Rignot E., Khazendar A., Continued retreat of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica, controlled by bed topography and ocean circulation., Geophysical Research Letters, 44(12), 6191–6199, 2017.

News

New Ocean Simulations Uncover Possible Link Between Subsurface "Storms" and Antarctic Ice Loss
Nov 18, 2025

Yoshihiro Nakayama Receives MEXT Young Scientists' Award
Apr 09, 2025

New Faculty Embody Scholarship and Innovation
Oct 28, 2024

In the News