My work covers many aspects of mid- and high latitude atmospheric dynamics, in particular fronts, jets and orography and air-ice-sea interaction. Some key results from my work are summarized here.

Jets, blocking and storm track variability

• The Southern Annular Mode (SAM) does not represent southern mid-latitude variability, but rather variability over Antartica and along its coast line (Spensberger et al. 2020, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0224.1).
• Jet variability does not necessarily follow geopotential variability (Spensberger and Spengler 2020, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0715.1).
• The stronger a jet, the less does it vary in position around its climatological mean, and the more does it favour anticyclonic wave breaking (Woollings et al. 2018, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0286.1).
• The same blocking high pressure can lead to concurrent heat waves in different regions through different mechanisms (Spensberger et al. 2020, doi: 10.1002/qj.3822)

Air-ice-sea interaction

• Increasing atmospheric resolution and a sharper sea-ice edge invigorates the atmospheric water cycle in a cold-air outbreak (Spensberger and Spengler 2021, doi: 10.1029/2020JD033610).
• The temperature contrast along the SST fronts affects the atmosphere primarily in the absence of cyclones and fronts (Tsopouridis et al. 2021, discussion paper doi: 10.5194/wcd-2020-50; Reeder et al. 2021, doi: 10.1175/JAS-D-20-0118.1).
• Year-to-year variability in the heat loss to the atmosphere over the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas is driven by atmospheric variability, and associated with variations in the occurrence of cyclones and cold-air-outreaks (Smedsrud et al. 2021, submitted to Reviews of Geophysics, preprint doi: 10.1002/essoar.10506171.1).

Frontal dynamics

• It is useful to distinguish not only between cold and warm fronts, but also between fronts that are more/less (a) kinematically intense, (b) affected by moist processes and (c) associated with surface fluxes (Spensberger and Sprenger 2018, doi: 10.1002/qj.3199).

Impact of orography on synoptic systems

• The Scandinavian mountains had only a minor influence on the evolution of the New Year's Day Storm 1992, although the mountain range separated the cyclone core from the cyclone's warm sector (Spensberger and Schemm 2020, doi: 10.5194/wcd-1-175-2020).
• We lack a satisfactory conceptual model to describe and explain cyclogenesis in the lee of the Rocky Mountains (Spensberger et al. 2017, doi: 10.1175/MWR-D-16-0195.1).

Idealised modelling

• I am the main developer of the quasi-geostrophic and primitive-equation model Bedymo (manuscript submitted to GMD).

Debattinnlegg

• Er ekstremsommeren tegn på klimaendringer? (14 August 2018 i Bergens Tidende).

Formidling

• The dispatchers of knowledge (11 April 2014 på SciSnack).
• Ice can flow like ketchup (8 October 2013 på SciSnack).

Current supervision activities

• Co-supervision of 2 ongoing PhD projects

Completed supervision activities

• Effective main supervision of master project (Trond Thorssteinson 2013)
• Co-supervision of master projects (Angus Munro 2011, Kristian Alvsvåg 2014, Hilde Marie Vaaga 2015, Marit Dagny Kristine Jenssen 2017, Kjersti Konstali 2019)
• 3-month student project through Arts & Science collaboration (Qinglin "Collin" You 2020)
• Main supervision of 3-month Bachelor project (Dario Peyer 2016)
• Main supervision of 2-3 month master-level internship projects (2018-2020)

Current teaching activities

• Lecturer in short block courses: Introduction to python for PhD students and staff(Course materials available on github)

Previous teaching activities

• Teaching assistant in Large-scale atmospheric dynamics
• Teaching assistant in Mesoscale atmospheric dynamics

Konferanseforedrag

• Andrea Marcheggiani; Helen Dacre; Clemens Spensberger et al. (2025). Diabatic processes on synoptic timescales drive variability in midlatitude storm tracks. (ekstern lenke)
• Leonidas Tsopouridis; Thomas Spengler; Clemens Spensberger (2019). Influence of the SST Front and Jet Stream on the evolution of Cyclones. (ekstern lenke)
• Leonidas Tsopouridis; Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2019). How do Extratropical Cyclones respond to the North Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature Front?. (ekstern lenke)
• Natacha Galmiche; Helwig Hauser; Thomas Spengler et al. (2021). Revealing Multimodality in Ensemble Weather Prediction. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Camille Li; Thomas Spengler (2022). Separating eddy driven and subtropical jets in reanalyses. (ekstern lenke)
• Leonidas Tsopouridis; Thomas Spengler; Clemens Spensberger (2018). Influence of the Northern Hemisphere Sea Surface Temperature Fronts and Jet Stream on the evolution of Cyclones. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler; Camille Li (2015). Relating objectively detected jet axes, blocks and wave-breaking events. (ekstern lenke)
• Qidi Yu; Clemens Spensberger; Linus Magnusson et al. (2025). Influence of Diabatic Heating on Cyclone Forecast Bias. (ekstern lenke)
• Kjersti Konstali; Thomas Spengler; Clemens Spensberger (2023). Air-Sea interactions during Cold Air Outbreaks in a coupled Mixed Layer Model. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Heather Regan; Guillaume Boutin et al. (2023). Attribution of air-ice-sea interactions to cyclones, fronts, and cold-air outbreaks. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Sebastian Schemm (2017). Front-orography interactions during the landfall of the New Year Day’s Storm 1992. (ekstern lenke)
• Thomas Spengler; Clemens Spensberger; Camille Li (2016). Upper Tropospheric Jet Axis Detection: Winter 2013/2014 and Northern Hemispheric Variability. (ekstern lenke)
• Andrea Marcheggiani; Helen Dacre; Clemens Spensberger et al. (2025). Baroclinicity variability in storm tracks along western boundary currents. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Camille Li; Thomas Spengler (2023). Separating eddy-driven and subtropical jets in reanalyses. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Kjersti Konstali; Thomas Spengler (2023). Detecting Moisture Pathways: Linking Atmospheric Rivers and Warm Moist Intrusions. (ekstern lenke)
• Thomas Spengler; Helen F. Dacre; Clemens Spensberger (2024). Contribution of cyclones, fronts, and atmospheric rivers to the maintenance of the North Atlantic storm track. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2013). Deformation: A new diagnostic for the evolution of large-scale flow. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Michael Sprenger (2018). Beyond Cold and Warm: An Objective Classification for Maritime Mid-Latitude Fronts. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Michael Sprenger (2018). Beyond Cold and Warm: An Objective Classification for Maritime Mid-Latitude Fronts. (ekstern lenke)
• Qidi Yu; Clemens Spensberger; Linus Magnusson et al. (2025). Features Forecast Errors associated with Synoptic Weather Features. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Michael Sprenger; Sebastian Schemm (2018). A new objective front type classification and its application to better understand front-orography interactions. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Kristine Flacké Haualand; Thomas Spengler (2024). Instantaneously detecting subtropical and eddy-driven jets resolves conundrum about mid-winter suppression. (ekstern lenke)
• Kjersti Konstali; Thomas Spengler; Clemens Spensberger (2024). Air-Sea interactions during Cold Air Outbreaks in a coupled Mixed Layer Model. (ekstern lenke)
• Thomas Spengler; Clemens Spensberger (2022). Sensitivity of air-sea heat exchange to lead width and orientation as well as model resolution. (ekstern lenke)
• Jonathan Winfield Rheinlænder; Einar Olason; Richard Davy et al. (2022). Breaking Up is Hard to Do – Simulating Extreme Sea-Ice Breakup Events in the Beaufort Sea. (ekstern lenke)
• Jonathan Winfield Rheinlænder; Einar Olason; Heather Regan et al. (2022). Breaking up is hard to do – Simulating extreme sea-ice breakup events in the Arctic. (ekstern lenke)
• Andrea Marcheggiani; Thomas Spengler; Helen F. Dacre et al. (2024). Contribution of Cyclones, Fronts, and Atmospheric Rivers to the Maintenance of the North Atlantic Storm Track. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Camille Li; Thomas Spengler (2022). Separating eddy driven and subtropical jets in reanalyses. (ekstern lenke)
• Thomas Spengler; Clemens Spensberger; Camille Li (2016). Upper Tropospheric Jet Axis Detection: Winter 2013/2014 and Northern Hemispheric Variability. (ekstern lenke)
• Michael J Reeder; Thomas Spengler; Clemens Spensberger (2018). The effect of SST gradients on atmospheric frontogenesis. (ekstern lenke)
• Camille Li; Erica Madonna; Clemens Spensberger et al. (2019). North Atlantic jet stream variability across weather to climate time scales. (ekstern lenke)
• Franziska Weyland; Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2022). Climatology of sea ice changes attributed to cyclones, fronts, and cold-air outbreaks. (ekstern lenke)
• Leonidas Tsopouridis; Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2019). How do Extratropical Cyclones respond to the North Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature Front?. (ekstern lenke)
• Leonidas Tsopouridis; Thomas Spengler; Clemens Spensberger (2019). Influence of the North Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature Front and Jet Stream on the Evolution of Cyclones. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Michael Sprenger (2017). Beyond Cold and Warm: An Objective Classification for Maritime Mid-Latitude Fronts. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Michael Sprenger (2017). Beyond Cold and Warm: An Objective Classification for Maritime Mid-Latitude Fronts. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler; Camille Li (2015). Disentangling the co-variability of the jet location and intensity. (ekstern lenke)

Fremhevet artikkel i media

• Clemens Spensberger (2018). Er ekstremsommeren tegn på klimaendringer?. (ekstern lenke)

Forelesning

• Johannes Lutzmann; Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2023). Detecting lifecycles of atmospheric fronts: Climatology and characteristics. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger (2022). Model sensitivities of heat exchange in cold-air outbreaks and through leads. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger (2022). Weather events driving changes in sea ice concentration. (ekstern lenke)
• Johannes Lutzmann; Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2022). Tracking Weather Fronts. (ekstern lenke)
• Qidi Yu; Clemens Spensberger; Linus Magnusson et al. (2025). Influence of Diabatic Heating on Cyclone Forecast Bias. (ekstern lenke)
• Johannes Lutzmann; Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2022). Frontal Life Cycles – Detection and Climatology. (ekstern lenke)
• Johannes Lutzmann; Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2023). Detecting Lifecycles of Atmospheric Fronts: Characteristics and Climatology. (ekstern lenke)

Konferanseposter

• Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler; Camille Li (2015). Relating objectively detected jet axes, blocking and wave-breaking events. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler; Camille Li (2015). Disentangling the co-variability of the jet location and intensity. (ekstern lenke)
• Johannes Lutzmann; Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2022). Towards an Objective Climatology of Frontal Life Cycles. (ekstern lenke)
• Qidi Yu; Clemens Spensberger; Magnusson Linus et al. (2023). Attribution of Forecasts Errors to Weather Features in the ECMWF Reanalysis v5 (ERA5). (ekstern lenke)
• Jonathan Winfield Rheinlænder; Anton Korosov; Einar Olason et al. (2022). Simulating extreme winter sea-ice breakup in the Beaufort Sea. (ekstern lenke)
• Jonathan Winfield Rheinlænder; Richard Davy; Einar Olason et al. (2022). Breaking Up is Hard to Do – Simulating Extreme Sea-Ice Breakup in the Beaufort Sea. (ekstern lenke)
• Qidi Yu; Clemens Spensberger; Linus Magnusson et al. (2024). Attribution of forecast errors to weather features in the ERA5. (ekstern lenke)
• Johannes Lutzmann; Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2024). A Climatology of Frontal Life Cycles. (ekstern lenke)
• Qidi Yu; Clemens Spensberger; Linus Magnusson et al. (2024). Forecast Error Attributed to Synoptic Features. (ekstern lenke)
• Johannes Lutzmann; Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2021). Towards a Climatology of Frontal Life Cycles. (ekstern lenke)
• Leonidas Tsopouridis; Thomas Spengler; Clemens Spensberger (2018). Influence of the SST Fronts on the evolution of North Atlantic Storms. (ekstern lenke)
• Johannes Lutzmann; Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2020). Lifecycle of fronts of mid-latitude cyclones and their role in maintaining extratropical storm tracks PhD Candidate (Supervisor: Thomas Spengler). (ekstern lenke)
• Leonidas Tsopouridis; Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2019). How do Extratropical Cyclones respond to the North Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature Front?. (ekstern lenke)
• Qidi Yu; Clemens Spensberger; Linus Magnusson et al. (2023). Attribution of Forecasts Errors to Weather Features in the ECMWF Reanalysis v5 (ERA5). (ekstern lenke)

Vitenskapelig artikkel

• Øyvind Seland; Mats Bentsen; Dirk Jan Leo Oliviè et al. (2020). Overview of the Norwegian Earth System Model (NorESM2) and key climate response of CMIP6 DECK, historical, and scenario simulations. (ekstern lenke)
• Leonidas Tsopouridis; Thomas Spengler; Clemens Spensberger (2020). Smoother versus sharper Gulf Stream and Kuroshio sea surface temperature fronts: effects on cyclones and climatology. (ekstern lenke)
• Michael J Reeder; Thomas Spengler; Clemens Spensberger (2021). The Effect of Sea Surface Temperature Fronts on Atmospheric Frontogenesis. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2021). Sensitivity of Air-Sea Heat Exchange in Cold-Air Outbreaks to Model Resolution and Sea-Ice Distribution. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Michael John Reeder; Thomas Spengler et al. (2020). The connection between the Southern Annular Mode and a feature-based perspective on Southern Hemisphere mid-latitude winter variability. (ekstern lenke)
• Andrea Marcheggiani; Helen Dacre; Clemens Spensberger et al. (2025). Weather features drive free‐tropospheric baroclinicity variability in the North Atlantic storm track. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger (2024). WCD Ideas: Teleconnections through weather rather than stationary waves. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Erica Madonna; Maxi Boettcher et al. (2020). Dynamics of concurrent and sequential Central European and Scandinavian heatwaves. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Camille Li; Thomas Spengler (2023). Linking Instantaneous and Climatological Perspectives on Eddy-Driven and Subtropical Jets. (ekstern lenke)
• Leonidas Tsopouridis; Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2020). Characteristics of cyclones following different pathways in the Gulf Stream region. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2014). A new look at deformation as a diagnostic for large-scale flow. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Trond Thorsteinsson; Thomas Spengler (2022). Bedymo: A combined quasi-geostrophic and primitive equation model in σ coordinates. (ekstern lenke)
• Kjersti Konstali; Thomas Spengler; Clemens Spensberger et al. (2025). Atmospheric Fronts Drive Future Changes in Extratropical Extreme Precipitation. (ekstern lenke)
• Leonidas Tsopouridis; Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2020). Cyclone Intensification in the Kuroshio Region and its relation to the Sea Surface Temperature Front and Upper‐Level Forcing. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Kjersti Konstali; Thomas Spengler (2025). Moisture transport axes: a unifying definition for tropical moisture exports, atmospheric rivers, and warm moist intrusions. (ekstern lenke)
• Kjersti Konstali; Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler et al. (2024). Global Attribution of Precipitation to Weather Features. (ekstern lenke)
• Clio Michel; Erica Madonna; Clemens Spensberger et al. (2021). Dynamical drivers of Greenland blocking in climate models. (ekstern lenke)
• Henrik Auestad; Clemens Spensberger; Andrea Marcheggiani et al. (2024). Spatio-temporal averaging of jets obscures the reinforcement of baroclinicity by latent heating. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Sebastian Schemm (2020). Front–orography interactions during landfall of the 1992 New Year's Day Storm. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Guillaume Boutin; Heather Regan et al. (2026). Limited Overall Impact of Cyclones on Arctic Sea Ice Tendencies throughout All Seasons. (ekstern lenke)
• Qidi Yu; Clemens Spensberger; Linus Magnusson et al. (2025). Forecast Errors Attributed to Synoptic Features. (ekstern lenke)
• Emily Grace Simmonds; Kwaku Peprah Adjei; Christoffer Wold Andersen et al. (2022). Insights into the quantification and reporting of model-related uncertainty across different disciplines. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler; Camille Li (2017). Upper-Tropospheric Jet Axis Detection and Application to the Boreal Winter 2013/14. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Michael Sprenger (2018). Beyond cold and warm: An objective classification for maritime mid-latitude fronts. (ekstern lenke)
• Kjersti Konstali; Thomas Spengler; Clemens Spensberger et al. (2024). Linking Future Precipitation Changes to Weather Features in CESM2-LE. (ekstern lenke)
• Jonathan Winfield Rheinlænder; Richard Davy; Einar Olason et al. (2022). Driving Mechanisms of an Extreme Winter Sea Ice Breakup Event in the Beaufort Sea. (ekstern lenke)
• Tim Woollings; Elizabeth A. Barnes; Brian Hoskins et al. (2018). Daily to decadal modulation of jet variability. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Thomas Spengler (2020). Feature-Based Jet Variability in the Upper Troposphere. (ekstern lenke)
• Clemens Spensberger; Joseph Egger; Thomas Spengler (2017). Synoptic Systems interacting with the Rocky Mountain Barrier: Observations and Theories. (ekstern lenke)

Vitenskapelig litteraturgjennomgang

• Lars Henrik Smedsrud; Morven Muilwijk; Tor Eldevik et al. (2022). Nordic Seas Heat Loss, Atlantic Inflow, and Arctic Sea Ice cover over the last century. (ekstern lenke)

Vitenskapelig bokkapittel

• Natacha Galmiche; Helwig Hauser; Thomas Spengler et al. (2021). Revealing Multimodality in Ensemble Weather Prediction. (ekstern lenke)

Forskningsrapport

• Clemens Spensberger; Madlen Kimmritz (2020). Monthly means of instantaneous diagnostics for key atmospheric processes - Mind the KAP. (ekstern lenke)

Doktorgradsavhandling

• Clemens Spensberger (2015). New approaches to investigate the influence of orographic and dynamic blocking on large-scale atmospheric flow. (ekstern lenke)

Se en full oversikt over publikasjoner i Cristin

Ongoing projects

• Particpant in Atmosphere‐Sea Ice interactions in the new Arctic (ARIA) 2021-2024 funded by the Research Council of Norway.
• Participant in Atmosphere-Ocean-Ice interactions (AOI) 2018-2021 funded by the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research.

Previous projects

• Co-lead of Bjerknes Fast Track Initiative 2020 to the internal ERA-5 renalysis repository more accessible for climate-oriented analyses.
• Lead of Bjerknes Fast Track Initiative 2019 (MIND the KAP) to make detected weather events directly available as output from the locally-developed climate model.
• Lead of post doc mobility project (FRIO) on Front-Orography interactions 2015-2018.