The climate science community is mourning the loss of a pioneering climate scientist and glaciologist, Konrad Steffen.

Ironically, it was the perils created by melting around Swiss Camp in Greenland — a research outpost he founded in 1990 — that claimed his life.

Jason Box, a well-known ice climatologist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, had spent many years working alongside Steffen and was with him right before he disappeared.

The Swiss Polar Institute, where Steffen served as scientific director, said in a statement on its website, "We will deeply miss Koni, but are committed to continuing his mission towards making a contribution, big or small, to create a difference." It included a link to a video about Steffen and his work.

Most recently, Steffen had been the director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (also known by its German acronym WSL) since 2012.

Shocked and saddened by the loss of Koni Steffen here in Greenland this weekend.

The local Boulder newspaper, the Daily Camera, described him as an incredibly active leader and connector in the glaciology field, noting that "In the decades since establishing the Swiss Camp, he brought countless graduate students and scientists to observe the melting ice and rising sea levels, as well as camera crews and a U.S.

vice president and Nobel laureate for his work in climate change, Al Gore, praised the influence Steffen has had

"Koni's renowned work as a glaciologist has been instrumental in the world's deepened understanding of the climate crisis," Gore wrote

I am deeply saddened to learn of Koni Steffen’s tragic death in a crevasse near Swiss Camp, on the top of Greenland

Koni's renowned work as a glaciologist has been instrumental in the world’s deepened understanding of the climate crisis

CIRES director Waleed Abdalati, who had Steffen as an advisor in graduate school and later knew him as a colleague, described his passion for science as infectious