Stefan Kröpelin is a geologist and climate researcher at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

who specializes in studying the eastern

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

desert and its climatic history. In 2017, he was awarded with the Communicator Award of the

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The German Research Foundation ( ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bu ...

for the excellent communication of his research both in Germany and international.

Research

The journal ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'' described Kröpelin as "one of the most devoted Sahara explorers of our time." According to Siddiq Abd Algadir, president of the Sudanese Geologists' Union in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

and a fellow student with Kröpelin in the 1980s, "Much of what we now know about the geology, the environments and even the people in some of the most remote parts of the Sahara, we really owe to tefan Kröpelinand the expeditions he has led." Contrary to other evidence that the Sahara suddenly changed from a wet to dry climate 5,000 years ago, Kröpelin's core samples at Lake Yoa suggests the transition took longer, some 3,000 years from 5,600 to 2,700 BC. Kröpelin was instrumental in fighting to have the Lakes of Ounianga in Chad listed as a UNESCO

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

in 2012. He was actively lobbying to have the

Ennedi Plateau The Ennedi Plateau is located in the northeast of Chad, in the regions of Ennedi-Ouest Region, Ennedi-Ouest and Ennedi-Est Region, Ennedi-Est. It is considered a part of the group of mountains known as the Ennedi Massif found in Chad, which is o ...

added as well that has been inscribed as Africa's 6th mixed Natural and Cultural World Heritage property in July 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kropelin, Stefan 21st-century German geologists Academic staff of the University of Cologne Living people Year of birth missing (living people)