Dr Iestyn Woolway

NERC Independent Research Fellow

Contact info

Room: 308 Craig Mair

Email: iestyn.woolway@bangor.ac.uk

Web: Google Scholar; Research Gate; Twitter

Dr Iestyn Woolway's research focuses on the physical interactions between climate and water, with a particular interest in the physics and hydrology of lakes worldwide. This includes aspects such as climate-induced variations in lake evaporation, water temperature, ice cover and energy fluxes. Using a combination of in-situ, satellite, and modelled data, his research aims to answer key questions that relate to climate-related changes of inland waters. He graduated from Bangor University in 2011 with a BSc and MSc in Physical Oceanography and then undertook a PhD in Physical Limnology at University College London (2011-2015). Dr Woolway was then a Postdoctoral Research Assistant in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading (2015-2018). In 2018, Dr Woolway was awarded a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, hosted at Dundalk Institute of Technology (Ireland), followed by a European Space Agency Fellowship in 2020 - based at the ESA Climate Office in Oxfordshire. In 2021, Dr Woolway was awarded a UK Natural Environment Research Council Independent Research Fellowship. He joined the School of Ocean Sciences as a NERC Independent Research Fellow (Reader) in 2022. In 2023 he was awarded a Dillwyn Medal for STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) from the Learned Society of Wales in recognition of early career research excellence for his work in the field of global environmental change. In 2024, he was awarded a Distinguished Scientist fellowship from the Chinese Academy of Sciences via the President's International Fellowship Initiative.

Research Areas

  1. Published

    Lake Water Temperature Modeling in an Era of Climate Change: Data Sources, Models, and Future Prospects

    Piccolroaz, S., Zhu, S., Ladwig, R., Carrea, L., Oliver, S., Piotrowski, A. P., Ptak, M., Shinohara, R., Sojka, M., Woolway, R. I. & Zhu, D. Z., Mar 2024, In: Reviews of Geophysics. 62, 1, e2023RG000816.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  2. Published

    Global reconstruction of twentieth century lake surface water temperature reveals different warming trends depending on the climatic zone

    Piccolroaz, S., Woolway, R. I. & Merchant, C. J., 1 Jun 2020, In: Climatic Change. 160, 3, p. 427-442

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  3. Published

    The EUSTACE Project: Delivering Global, Daily Information on Surface Air Temperature

    Rayner, N. A., Auchmann, R., Bessembinder, J., Bronnimann, S., Brugnara, Y., Capponi, F., Carrea, L., Dodd, E. M. A., Ghent, D., Good, E., Hoyer, J. L., Kennedy, J. J., Kent, E. C., Killick, R. E., van der Linden, P., Lindgren, F., Madsen, K. S., Merchant, C. J., Mitchelson, J. R., Morice, C. P., Nielsen-Englyst, P., Ortiz, P. F., Remedios, J. J., van der Schrier, G., Squintu, A. A., Stephens, A., Thorne, P. W., Tonboe, R. T., Trent, T., Veal, K. L., Waterfall, A. M., Winfield, K., Winn, J. & Woolway, R. I., Nov 2020, In: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 101, 11, p. E1924-E1947

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  4. Published

    The importance of lake-specific characteristics for water quality across the continental United States

    Read, E. K., Patil, V. P., Oliver, S. K., Hetherington, A. L., Brentrup, J. A., Zwart, J. A., Winters, K. M., Corman, J. R., Nodine, E. R., Woolway, R. I., Dugan, H. A., Jaimes, A., Santoso, A. B., Hong, G. S., Winslow, L. A., Hanson, P. C. & Weathers, K. C., 1 Jun 2015, In: Ecological Applications. 25, 4, p. 943-955

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  5. Published

    Nonlinear responses in interannual variability of lake ice to climate change

    Richardson, D. C., Filazzola, A., Woolway, R. I., Imrit, M. A., Bouffard, D., Weyhenmeyer, G. A., Magnuson, J. & Sharma, S., 1 Apr 2024, In: Limnology and Oceanography. 69, 4, p. 789-801 13 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  6. Published

    Loss of Ice Cover, Shifting Phenology, and More Extreme Events in Northern Hemisphere Lakes

    Sharma, S., Richardson, D. C., Woolway, R. I., Imrit, M. A., Bouffard, D., Blagrave, K., Daly, J., Filazzola, A., Granin, N., Korhonen, J., Magnuson, J., Marszelewski, W., Matsuzaki, S-I. S., Perry, W., Robertson, D. M., Rudstam, L. G., Weyhenmeyer, G. A. & Yao, H., 1 Oct 2021, In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 126, 10, e2021JG006348.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  7. Published

    Widespread loss of lake ice around the Northern Hemisphere in a warming world

    Sharma, S., Blagrave, K., Magnuson, J. J., O'Reilly, C. M., Oliver, S., Batt, R. D., Magee, M. R., Straile, D., Weyhenmeyer, G. A., Winslow, L. & Woolway, R. I., 1 Mar 2019, In: Nature Climate Change. 9, 3, p. 227-231

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  8. Published

    The annual cycle of energy input, modal excitation and physical plus biogenic turbulent dissipation in a temperate lake

    Simpson, J., Woolway, I., Scannell, B., Austin, M., Powell, B. & Maberly, S. C., Jun 2021, In: Water Resources Research. 57, 6, 2020WR029441.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  9. Published

    Storm impacts on phytoplankton community dynamics in lakes

    Stockwell, J. D., Doubek, J. P., Adrian, R., Anneville, O., Carey, C. C., Carvalho, L., Domis, L. N. D. S., Dur, G., Frassl, M. A., Grossart, H-P., Ibelings, B. W., Lajeunesse, M. J., Lewandowska, A. M., Llames, M. E., Matsuzaki, S-I. S., Nodine, E. R., Noges, P., Patil, V. P., Pomati, F., Rinke, K., Rudstam, L. G., Rusak, J. A., Salmaso, N., Seltmann, C. T., Straile, D., Thackeray, S. J., Thiery, W., Urrutia-Cordero, P., Venail, P., Verburg, P., Woolway, R. I., Zohary, T., Andersen, M. R., Bhattacharya, R., Hejzlar, J., Janatian, N., Kpodonu, A. T. N. K., Williamson, T. J. & Wilson, H. L., 1 May 2020, In: Global Change Biology. 26, 5, p. 2756-2784

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

  10. Published

    Global lakes are warming slower than surface air temperature due to accelerated evaporation

    Tong, Y., Feng, L., Wang, X., Pi, X., Xu, W. & Woolway, R. I., 23 Oct 2023, In: Nature Water. 1, 11, p. 929-940 12 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  11. Published

    Citizen science shows systematic changes in the temperature difference between air and inland waters with global warming

    University, U., Mackay, M., Stockwell, J. D., Thiery, W., Grossart, H-P., Augusto-Silva, P. B., Baulch, H. M., de Eyto, E., Hejzlar, J., Kangur, K., Kirillin, G., University, U., Rusak, J. A., Davis, U. O. & Reading, U., 6 Mar 2017, In: Scientific Reports. 7

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  12. Published

    Global Heat Uptake by Inland Waters

    Vanderkelen, I., van Lipzig, N. P. M., Lawrence, D. M., Droppers, B., Golub, M., Gosling, S. N., Janssen, A. B. G., Marce, R., Schmied, H. M., Perroud, M., Pierson, D., Pokhrel, Y., Satoh, Y., Schewe, J., Seneviratne, S. . I., Stepanenko, V. M., Tan, Z., Woolway, R. . I. & Thiery, W., 28 Jun 2020, In: Geophysical Research Letters. 47, 12

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  13. Published

    A record-breaking extreme heat event caused unprecedented warming of lakes in China

    Wang, W., Shi, K., Wang, X., Wang, S., Zhang, D., Peng, Y., Li, N., Zhang, Y., Zhang, Y., Qin, B., Iestyn Woolway, R. & Jeppesen, E., 30 Mar 2023, In: Science bulletin. 68, 6, p. 578-582 5 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  14. Published

    The impact of extreme heat on lake warming in China

    Wang, W., Shi, K., Wang, X., Zhang, Y., Qin, B., Zhang, Y. & Woolway, R. I., 2 Jan 2024, In: Nature Communications. 15, 1, 70.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  15. Published

    Numerical simulation of thermal stratification in Lake Qiandaohu using an improved WRF-Lake model

    Wang, X., Wang, W., He, Y., Zhang, S., Huang, W., Woolway, R. I., Shi, K. & Yang, X., 1 Mar 2023, In: Journal of Hydrology. 618, 129184.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  16. Published

    Climate change drives rapid warming and increasing heatwaves of lakes

    Wang, X., Shi, K., Zhang, Y., Qin, B., Zhang, Y., Wang, W., Woolway, R. I., Piao, S. & Jeppesen, E., 30 Jul 2023, In: Science bulletin. 68, 14, p. 1574-1584 11 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  17. Published

    Variability in epilimnion depth estimations in lakes

    Wilson, H. L., Ayala, A. I., Jones, I. D., Rolston, A., Pierson, D., de Eyto, E., Grossart, H-P., Perga, M-E., Woolway, R. I. & Jennings, E., 24 Nov 2020, In: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 24, 11, p. 5559-5577

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  18. Published

    LakeMetabolizer: an R package for estimating lake metabolism from free-water oxygen using diverse statistical models

    Winslow, L. A., Zwart, J. A., Batt, R. D., Dugan, H. A., Woolway, R. I., Corman, J. R., Hanson, P. C. & Read, J. S., 2 Nov 2016, In: INLAND WATERS. 6, 4, p. 622-636

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  19. Published

    Severe Lake Heatwaves Attributable to Human-Induced Global Warming

    Woolway, I., Albergel, C., Froelicher, T. & Perroud, M., 28 Feb 2022, In: Geophysical Research Letters. 49, 4, 10 p., e2021GL097031.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  20. Published

    The pace of shifting seasons in lakes

    Woolway, R. I., 13 Apr 2023, In: Nature Communications. 14, 2101.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  21. Published

    Automated calculation of surface energy fluxes with high-frequency lake buoy data

    Woolway, R. I., Jones, I. D., Hamilton, D. P., Maberly, S. C., Muraoka, K., Read, J. S., Smyth, R. L. & Winslow, L. A., 1 Aug 2015, In: Environmental Modelling and Software. 70, p. 191-198

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  22. Published

    Global lake responses to climate change

    Woolway, R. I., Kraemer, B. M., Lenters, J. D., Merchant, C. J., O'Reilly, C. M. & Sharma, S., 1 Aug 2020, In: Nature Reviews Earth and Environment. 1, p. 388-403

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  23. Published

    Northern Hemisphere Atmospheric Stilling Accelerates Lake Thermal Responses to a Warming World

    Woolway, R. I., Merchant, C. J., Van Den Hoek, J., Azorin-Molina, C., Noges, P., Laas, A., Mackay, E. B. & Jones, I. D., 16 Nov 2019, In: Geophysical Research Letters. 46, 21, p. 11983-11992

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  24. Published

    Diel Surface Temperature Range Scales with Lake Size

    Woolway, R. I., Jones, I. D., Maberly, S. C., French, J. R., Livingstone, D. M., Monteith, D. T., Simpson, G., Thackeray, S. J., Copenhagen, U., London, U., DeGasperi, C. L., Evans, C. D., de Eyto, E., Feuchtmayr, H., Hamilton, D., Kernan, M., Krokowski, J., Rimmer, A., Rose, K. C., Rusak, J. A., Ryves, D. B., Scott, D. R., Shilland, E. M., Smyth, R. L., Staehr, P. A., Thomas, R., Waldron, S. & Weyhenmeyer, G., 29 Mar 2016, In: PLoS ONE. 11, 3

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  25. Published

    Climate velocity in inland standing waters

    Woolway, R. I. & Maberly, S. C., 1 Dec 2020, In: Nature Climate Change. 10, 12, p. 1124-U91

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review