Curriculum Vitae

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.
  • 2022–2022: Research Stay — Regional Glacier Modelling, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria. Seven-month research stay working with Fabien Maussion at the Department of Ice & Climate.
  • 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.

Grants & Funding

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

Awards

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

Supervision

  • 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
  • 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
  • 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)
  • Advanced Hydrology (2020)
  • Distributed Hydrology (2020)
  • Hydrology (2016-2018) (5 semesters)
  • Introduction to Environmental Science (2015)
  • Support Center for Learning Basic Sciences (2014-2015) (4 semesters)

Talks & Presentations

Invited Talks

  • EGU General Assembly (2026, Vienna, Austria) — Glacio-hydrological modelling in Patagonia
  • Student for Student Summerschool (2022, Austria) — Climate datasets are the main source of uncertainty of glacier evolution
  • Glaciology Seminars (2021, online) — A multi-institutional effort for an open hydrometeorological dataset in Western Patagonia
  • Seminar for Strategic Planning of Water Resources in Aysén (2022, Aysén, Chile) — PatagoniaMet v1.0: Una base de datos hidro-meteorológica para la Patagonia Occidental

Conference Presentations

  • V Congress of the Chilean Cryosphere Society (2023, Chile) — Assessing glacier projection uncertainties in the Patagonian Andes
  • 6th OGGM Workshop (2022, Norway) — Modelling freshwater inputs to the coastal system of 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
  • XXIV Chilean Congress of Hydraulic Engineering (2019, Chile) — The glass half-empty: Climate Change Impacts on Freshwater Input to the North Patagonia Coastal System
  • XXVIII Latin American Hydraulics Congress (2018, Argentina) — Hydrological modeling of the trans-Andean basin of the Puelo River

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

Service

  • Reviewer — The Cryosphere (2025)
  • Reviewer — Journal of Glaciology (2025)
  • Reviewer — Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (2025)
  • Project Scientist — Instrumentation and habilitation of a reference basin for snowpack studies in Aysén, CIEP (2021)
  • Hydrological Modeler and Climate Analyst — Determination of average monthly flows in continental Chiloé, IFOP (2017)
  • Project Engineer — Water Scenarios 2030, Fundación Chile (2017)
  • Scientific Advisor — Strategic Water Management Plans for Puelo, Yelcho, Aysén, Baker and Pascua Basins, GEOSAFE (2021)
  • Scientific Advisor — Predictive system for precipitation and streamflow in central-southern Chile, Universidad de Chile (2025)

Outreach & Media

Skills

  • Programming: Python, R, Julia, Bash, shell scripting
  • Glacier Modelling: OGGM, PyGEM, PISM, glacier dynamics
  • Hydrological Modelling: HBV, TETIS, WRF-Hydro, hydrological signatures
  • Deep Learning: PyTorch, TensorFlow, LSTM, neural hydrology
  • Geospatial: GIS, remote sensing, Google Earth Engine, QGIS
  • Tools: Quarto, Git, LaTeX, Docker, HPC, Linux
  • Languages: Spanish (native), English (fluent)

Fieldwork

  • 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)
  • Bordu and Kara-Batkak glaciers, Kyrgyzstan (2024) — Glacier monitoring using drones (PI: Lander Van Tricht)

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).