Curriculum Vitae

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Positions

  • 2024–2025: Postdoctoral Researcher, Vrije Universiteit Brussel — ICE³ project: Modelling the global multi-century evolution of glacier ice in 3D. Supervised by Harry Zekollari.
  • 2025–present: Postdoctoral Fellow (FWO), Vrije Universiteit Brussel — ICE-BUFFER project: Global glacier buffering of streamflow droughts in a changing climate using deep learning. FWO Postdoctoral Junior Fellowship. Supervised by Harry Zekollari.

Education

  • 2019–2023: PhD in Environmental Sciences, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile. Thesis: Assessment of the impacts of climate change on the spatio-temporal patterns of freshwater sources to the coastal system of Western Patagonia. Supervised by Mauricio Aguayo and Jorge León.
  • 2017–2019: MSc in Civil Engineering (Water Resources), Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile. Thesis: Impacts of anthropogenic climate change on the runoff of a trans-Andean basin in Patagonia. Supervised by Jorge León.
  • 2012–2018: Civil Engineering (Hydraulic-Environmental mention), Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile. Thesis: Hydrological modeling of a Patagonian basin: Application of remote sensing. Supervised by José Vargas. Approved with maximum distinction.

Mobility

  • 2026: Research Stay — Glacio-hydrological Modelling, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France (2 months). Working with Jordi Bolibar at the Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE).
  • 2022: Research Stay — Regional Glacier Modelling, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria (7 months). Working with Fabien Maussion at the Department of Ice & Climate.

Grants & Funding

  • 2025–2028: FWO Postdoctoral Junior Fellowship — ICE-BUFFER project
  • 2023: ANID Doctoral Writing Extension Fellowship —
  • 2019–2023: ANID National Doctoral Fellowship —
  • 2022: ANID International Research Stay Fellowship —
  • 2021–2022: ANID Operational Expenses Grant —

Awards

  • 2025: Outstanding Reviewer Award, The Cryosphere (EGU)
  • 2021: Top 100 in Earth Science — Scientific Reports collection
  • 2017: Professor Edgar Pino Barrueto Prize — Best thesis of the Civil Engineering promotion

Supervision

  • Francesco Calista (MSc, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 2025-2026) — Implications of glacier melt in High Mountain Asia for future water security. Co-supervised with Harry Zekollari and Magali Ponds
  • Fernanda Espinoza (MSc, Universidad de Chile, 2025-2026) — Flood forecasting using deep learning in south-central Chile. Co-supervised with Pablo Mendoza
  • Magali Ponds (PhD, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 2024-2027) — The effect of irrigation on glacier evolution in High-Mountain Asia. Co-supervised with Harry Zekollari
  • Maziar Freki (MSc, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 2024-2025) — Closing the regional water budget in Western Patagonia using SWOT data. Co-supervised with Harry Zekollari
  • Garance du Bus de Warnaffe (MSc, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 2024-2025) — The time of emergence of glacier runoff in Patagonia. Co-supervised with Harry Zekollari
  • Isadora Leon (MSc, Universidad Austral de Chile, 2023-2024) — Effects of land cover on the hydrological propagation of droughts in Southern Chile. Co-supervised with Jorge Leon and Alvaro Gonzalez
  • Paul Sandoval (Bachelor, Universidad del Bío-Bío, 2021) — Potential impacts of global warming in the upper Manso River Basin.

Teaching

KU Leuven / Vrije Universiteit Brussel

  • Surface Water Hydrology (2025-2026) (2 semesters)

Universidad de Concepción

  • GIS Applied to Environmental Science (2023)
  • Fluid Mechanics (2022)
  • Distributed Hydrology (2020)
  • Advanced Hydrology (2019)
  • Hydrology (2016-2018) (5 semesters)
  • Introduction to Environmental Science (2015)
  • Support Center for Learning Basic Sciences (2014-2015) (4 semesters)

Talks & Presentations

2026

  • ⭐ Séminaire IGE (2026, FR) — What past droughts look like when glaciers shrink
  • ⭐ Simposio Agua, ciencia y sostenibilidad desde los Andes (2026, Online) — Reimaginando cómo los glaciares Andinos amortiguaron las pasadas sequías hidrológicas
  • EGU General Assembly (2026, Vienna, Austria) — Glacio-hydrological modelling in Patagonia
  • EGU26 (2026, AT) — Reimagining how Andean glaciers buffered past streamflow droughts
  • III Jornadas de Hidrologia (2026, CL) — What past droughts look like when glaciers shrink
  • UCH seminars (2026, CL) — Reimagining how Andean glaciers buffered past streamflow droughts

2025

  • ⭐ Glaciological seminars at ETH (2025, CH) — From ice to streams: Climate change impacts on glacier runoff dynamics in the Andes
  • ⭐ Taller TROPIPOLAR-GLASCLIM (2025, Online) — Glacier buffering of past streamflow droughts in a changing climate: Insights from the Andes
  • BE-POLAR conference (2025, BE) — Glacier buffering of past streamflow droughts in a changing climate: Insights from the Andes
  • International Mountain Conference (IMC) (2025, AT) — Glacier buffering of past streamflow droughts in a changing climate: Insights from the Andes
  • 9th OGGM workshop (2025, BE) — Revisiting glacier buffering of past streamflow droughts with OGGM: Pitfalls and Pathways Forward
  • GlacierMIP workshop (2025) — Glacier buffering of past streamflow droughts in a changing climate (ICE-BUFFER)
  • EGU25 (2025, AT) — Divergent spatial runoff trends in Western Patagonia projected by hybrid glacio-hydrological modelling

2024

  • ⭐ Summerschool at the Tien Shan International Science Centre (2024, KG) — On the importance of modelling glaciers for runoff projections
  • EGU24 (2024, AT) — Unravelling the sources of uncertainty in glacier runoff in the Patagonian Andes
  • 8th OGGM workshop (2024, CH) — Divergent glacio-hydrological spatial patterns in Western Patagonia projected by hybrid deep Learning

2023

  • V Congress of the Chilean Cryosphere Society (2023, CL) — Assessing the glacier projection uncertainties in the Patagonian Andes

2022

  • ⭐ Seminar for the strategic planning of water resources in Aysén (2022, CL) — PatagoniaMet v1.0: Una base de datos hidro-meteorológica para la Patagonia Occidental
  • 6th OGGM workshop (2022) — Modeling the freshwater inputs to the coastal system of Western Patagonia
  • Student for Student Summerschool (2022, AT) — Climate datasets are the main source of uncertainty of glacier evolution

2021

  • ⭐ Glaciology Seminars organized by the Center for Scientific Studies (2021, Online) — A multi-institutional effort for an open hydrometeorological dataset in Western Patagonia
  • III Congress of the Chilean Cryosphere Society (2021, Online) — PatagoniaMet: A quality check observational dataset for Western Patagonia
  • Scientific Meeting of The Argentine Association Of Geophysicists and Geodesists (2021, Online) — PatagoniaMet: Generation and evaluation of precipitation and air temperature gridded datasets

2019

  • XXIV Chilean Congress of Hydraulic Engineering (2019, CL) — The glass half-empty: Climate Change Impacts on Freshwater Input to the North Patagonia Coastal System

2018

  • XXVIII Latin American Hydraulics Congress (2018, ARG) — Hydrological modeling of the trans-Andean basin of the Puelo River: Application of Remote Sensors

Datasets

  • PatagoniaMet (2023) — A multi-source hydrometeorological dataset for Western Patagonia (40–56°S). Includes precipitation, temperature, streamflow, and other variables from multiple observational sources.. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7992760
  • RGI v7.1 Lake Termini Classification (2025) — Global mapping of lake-terminating glaciers — classification of Randolph Glacier Inventory v7.1 glacier termini as lake-terminating or not.. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15524733
  • Historical and Future Runoff in Western Patagonia (2025) — Simulated historical and future runoff projections for Western Patagonia using hybrid glacio-hydrological modelling.. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15076803
  • Glacier Runoff Projections in Patagonia (2024) — Ensemble of glacier runoff projections for the Patagonian Andes (40–56°S) under multiple climate scenarios.. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.8384882
  • Model-Based Runoff in Northern Patagonia (2024) — Hydrological model outputs for Northern Patagonia catchments under historical and future climate conditions.. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10949518

Projects & Collaborations

Research projects

  • Instrumentation and habilitation of a reference basin for studies related to changes in the snowpack in the Aysén region (2021) — Hydrological modeler and climate analyst (PI: Iñigo Irrazabal), CIEP
  • Production of bioenergy for combustion from sustainable forest management (2021) — Geospatial specialist (PI: Gustavo Saiz), UCSC
  • Hydrological signature influence on Chilean Aquaculture under climate change and landscape scenarios (2022-2023) — PhD student (PI: Jorge Leon), UCSC
  • Risk analysis as a tool for the prioritization of secondary environmental quality standards in the main tributary rivers to the fjord system of Northwestern Patagonia (2022-2023) — Project coordinator (PI: Jorge Leon), UCSC
  • Assessing the impacts of wildfires and generate proposals for fire-resilient landscape based on different environmental change scenarios (2024) — Geospatial specialist (PI: Gustavo Saiz), UCSC

Applied research

  • Determination of average monthly flows in a hydrographic basin of continental Chiloé (2017) — Hydrological Modeler and Climate Analyst (Supervisor: Jose Vargas), Instituto de Fomento Pesquero (IFOP)
  • Water Scenarios 2030 (2017) — Project Engineer (Supervisor: Jose Vargas), Fundación Chile
  • Hydrological Modeling in the Upper Cachapoal River Basin (2019) — Hydrological Modeler (Supervisor: Aldo Montecinos), Centro del Agua para la Agricultura
  • Book Rivers of South America (2020) — Data gathering (Supervisor: Jorge Nimptsch), Universidad Austral de Chile (UACH)
  • Strategic Water Management Plans for the Puelo, Yelcho, Aysén, Baker and Pascua Basins (2021) — Project Engineer and Scientific Advisor (Supervisor: David Poblete), GEOSAFE
  • Development of a predictive system for precipitation and streamflow in the central-southern basins (Chile) (2025) — Scientific Advisor (Supervisor: Pablo Mendoza), UCH

Peer Review

  • The Cryosphere
  • Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
  • Journal of Hydrology
  • Nature Communications

Outreach & Media

Fieldwork

  • Bordu and Kara-Batkak glaciers, Kyrgyzstan (2024) — Glacier monitoring using drones (PI: Lander Van Tricht)
  • Puelo River basin, Chile (2018-2021) — Trimestral hydrological campaigns for fjord land use change study (PI: Jorge Leon)
  • Aysén region, Chile (2017) — Stream surveys in old-growth temperate forests (PI: Anna Astorga and Brian Reid)

Publications

2026

2025

2024

2023

2021

2019

In Review

  • Mendoza, P. A., Toum, E., Wongchuig, S., Condom, T., Barco, J., Drenkhan, F. and Aguayo, R. (2026). Recent advances and challenges in process-based hydrological modeling over the Andes: A review. WIREs Water (in review).

  • Van Tricht, L., Huss, M., Zekollari, H., Aguayo, R., van Tiel, M., von der Esch, A., Beer, J. and Farinotti, D. (2026). Resolving short-term meteorological variability amplifies projected glacier loss. Nature Communications (in review).

  • Ponds, M., Aguayo, R., Yao, Y., Thiery, W. and Zekollari, H. (2026). Irrigation buffers glacier loss. Nature Climate Change (in review).

  • León-Muñoz, J., Reid, B., Iriarte, J. L., Mardones, J., Aguayo, R., … and Garreaud, R. (2026). Melt-driven freshwater inputs as potential drivers of harmful algal blooms in northwestern Patagonia. Scientific Reports (in review).

  • Fox, C., León-Muñoz, J., Reid, B., Astorga, A., Aguayo, R., Moreno-Meynard, P., Blanchet, L. and Butman, D. (2025). Riverine Biogeochemical Exports from Major Watersheds to the Northwest Patagonian Estuarine Network. JGR – Biogeosciences (in review).

  • Moreno, P., Aguayo, R., Astorga, A., Somos, M., Uribe, L. and Reid, B. (2025). Early detection of anthropogenic impacts on headwater streams in Patagonia through hydrological signatures metrics. Hydrological Sciences Journal (in review).