Dr Peter Hopcroft BSc(Hons), PhD

Dr Peter Hopcroft

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Birmingham Fellow

Contact details

Address
Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Peter is interested in understanding and predicting climate change in both the past and future. Peter specialises in using Earth System models, particularly as applied to the periods prior to industrialisation.

Peter's personal website

Qualifications

  • 2004: BSc(Hons) Physics with studies in musical performance, Imperial College London & Royal College of Music
  • 2009: PhD Geophysics, Imperial College London

Postgraduate supervision

I am keen to hear from prospective PhD students on all topics related to Earth System and climate modelling. I am particularly interested in simulating the Green Sahara and other aspects of palaeo-monsoon variations; the palaeo mineral dust cycle, particularly related to abrupt climate dust and climate events during the last glacial period and the methane cycle. Projects that look at links between model performance for the past and the future would also be encouraged. I am happy to consider distance learning candidates where appropriate.

Research

Peter is interested in understanding and predicting climate change in both the past and future. Peter specialises in using Earth System models, particularly as applied to the periods prior to industrialisation.

 

 

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Rousseau, D-D, Chauvel, C, Hopcroft, PO, Gutiérrez, P, Saulnier-Copard, S, Antoine, P, Fuchs, M & Ustrzycka, A 2025, 'A remote input of African dust to Last Glacial Europe', Communications Earth & Environment, vol. 6, 847. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02888-9

Lu, Z, Schultze, A, Carre, M, Brierley, C, Hopcroft, P, Zhao, D, Zheng, M, Braconnot, P, Yin, Q, Jungclaus, J, Shi, X, Yang, H & Zhang, Q 2025, 'Enhanced frequency of multi-year El Niño-Southern Oscillation across the Holocene', Nature Geoscience. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-025-01670-y

Zhang, Z, Poulter, B, Melton, JR, Riley, WJ, Allen, G, Beerling, DJ, Canadell, JG, Flouet-Chouinard, E, Ciais, P, Gedney, N, Hopcroft, P, Ito, A, Jackson, R & GCP CH4 modellers 2025, 'Ensemble estimates of global wetland methane emissions over 2000-2020', Biogeosciences. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1584, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-305-2025

Saunois, M & Hopcroft, P 2025, 'Global Methane Budget 2000-2020', Earth System Science Data, vol. 17, no. 5, pp. 1873–1958. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-115, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1873-2025

Tiwari, S, Pausata, FSR, Legrande, AN, Griffiths, M, Wainer, I, Beltrami, H, de Vernal, A, Hopcroft, PO, Tabor, C, Chandan, D & Peltier, WR 2025, 'Mid-Holocene El Niño Southern Oscillation variability reduced by northern African vegetation changes in climate models', Communications Earth & Environment, vol. 6, 675. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02639-w

Dutta, D, Hopcroft, P, Andreasen, LS, Aubry, T, Timmreck, C, Zanchettin, D, Zhang, X & Muschitiello, F 2025, 'State-Dependent North Atlantic Response to Volcanic Eruption Clusters', Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 52, no. 15, e2025GL117582. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL117582

Verkerk, M, Aubry, T, Smith, C, Hopcroft, P, Sigl, M, Tierney, JE, Anchukaitis, K, Osman, M, Schmidt, A & Toohey, M 2025, 'Using reduced-complexity volcanic aerosol and climate models to produce large ensemble simulations of Holocene temperature', Climate of the Past, vol. 21, pp. 1755–1778. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1755-2025

Trauth, M, Asrat, A, Fischer, ML, Hopcroft, P, Foerster, V, Kaboth-Bahr, S, Kindermann, K, Lamb, HF, Marwan, N, Maslin, MA & Schaebitz, F 2024, 'Early warning signals of the termination of the African Humid Period(s)', Nature Communications, vol. 15, pp. 3697. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47921-1

Krause, C, Kimbrough, A, Gagan, MK, Hopcroft, P, Dunbar, G, Hantoro, W, Hellstrom, J, Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Wong, H, Suwargadi, B, Valdes, PJ & Rifai, H 2024, 'Tropical vegetation productivity and atmospheric methane over the last 40,000 years from model simulations and stalagmites in Sulawesi, Indonesia', Quaternary Research. https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2023.75

Hopcroft, P & Gallagher, K 2023, 'Global variability in multi-century ground warming inferred from geothermal data', Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 50, no. 13, e2023GL104631. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL104631

Armstrong, E, Tallavaara, M, Hopcroft, P & Valdes, PJ 2023, 'North African Humid Periods over the past 800000 years', Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, 5549. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41219-4

Hopcroft, P, Valdes, PJ, Shuman, B, Toohey, M & Sigl, M 2023, 'Relative importance of forcings and feedbacks in the Holocene temperature conundrum', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 319, 108322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108322

Letter

Zhu, Q, Yuan, K, Li, F, Riley, WJ, Hoyt, A, Jackson, R, Mcnicol, G, Chen, M, Knox, SH, Briner, O, Beerling, D, Gedney, N, Hopcroft, PO, Ito, A, Jain, AK, Jensen, K, Kleinen, T, Li, T, Liu, X, McDonald, KC, Melton, JR, Miller, PA, Müller, J, Peng, C, Poulter, B, Qin, Z, Peng, S, Tian, H, Xu, X, Yao, Y, Xi, Y, Zhang, Z, Zhang, W, Zhu, Q & Zhuang, Q 2024, 'Critical needs to close monitoring gaps in pan-tropical wetland CH4 emissions', Environmental Research Letters, vol. 19, no. 11, 114046. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad8019

Ito, A, Li, T, Melton, J, Tian, H, Kleinen, T, Wang, W, Zhang, Z, Joos, F, Ciais, P, Hopcroft, PO, Beerling, DJ, Liu, X, Zhuang, Q, Zhu, Q, Peng, C, Cheng, K-Y, Fluet-Chouinard, E, McNicol, G, Patra, P, Poulter, B, Sitch, S, Riley, W & Zhu, Q 2023, 'Cold-season methane fluxes simulated by GCP-CH4 models', Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 50, no. 14, e2023GL103037. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL103037

Jiang, Z, Brierley, CM, Bader, J, Braconnot, P, Erb, M, Hopcroft, PO, Jiang, D, Jungclaus, J, Khon, V, Lohmann, G, Marti, O, Osman, MB, Otto-Bliesner, B, Schneider, B, Shi, X, Thornalley, DJR, Tian, Z & Zhang, Q 2023, 'No consistent simulated trends in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation for the past 6,000 years', Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 50, no. 10, e2023GL103078. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL103078

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