Miguel Bartolomé Ucar
Tenured scientist
cave monitoring; ice caves; paleoclimatology; paleofloods; permafrost; speleothems
I am a senior researcher at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). Graduated in Geology (University of Zaragoza). PhD in Geology (University of Zaragoza).
My postdoctoral career began with the Juan de la Cierva Formación Postdoctoral Fellowship (MNCN, CSIC), followed by a postdoc position at the Geology and Mineralogy Department (University of Cologne, Germany). I obtained a 3-year Marie Sklodowska-Curie Global Fellowship postdoctoral project (2022) before joining the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC) as a tenured scientist. I also carried out 6 research internships at University of Minnesota (USA) and the University of Innsbruck (Austria).
My research focuses on the study of stalagmites (including cave monitoring), cave ice deposits, and, more recently, clastic deposits to infer past climate conditions. My novel research line on ice caves is fundamental to rescuing and unravelling all paleoclimate information before the imminent disappearance of ice caves due to climate change.
Since 2011, I designed and led an intensive and pioneering monitoring program, still active, consisting of a detailed survey in 11 Pyrenean caves at different altitudes, including ice caves. I significantly contributed to the understanding of the mechanisms and climate variability of the Younger Dryas (YD, 12.8-11.7 b2k) in Southern Europe using a stalagmite from Seso cave.
I have received several awards during my research career in different fields: from the speleological merit to the best PhD Thesis about Quaternary science, and Félix de Azara Price (2019), to the Novel research on ice caves.
2025
Bartolomé M, Giménez R, Pérez-Villar G, Luetscher M, Stoll H, Moreno A, Calle M, Ballesteros-Cánovas JA, Benito G. 2025. Records of past flood in caves of the Central Pyrenees: Sedimentary evidence and quantification methods, Metode Science Studies Journal 15, e30175–e30175. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.15.30175
Benito G, Ballesteros-Cánovas JA, Bartolomé M, Corella JP, Grodek T, Machado MJ, Medialdea A, Muñoz-Torrero A, Sánchez-Moya Y, Tejedor E. 2025. Changes in flood hazards: Insights from palaeoflood studies, Estudios Geológicos 81, 1135–1135. https://doi.org/10.3989/egeol.45727.1135
Bernal-Wormull JL, Moreno A, Dublyansky Y, Spötl C, Giménez R, Pérez-Mejías C, Bartolomé M, Arriolabengoa M, Iriarte E, Cacho I, Edwards RL, Cheng H. 2025. Temperature variability in southern Europe over the past 16 500 years constrained by speleothem fluid inclusion water isotopes, Climate of the Past 21, 1235–1261. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1235-2025
Leunda M, Moreno A, Belmonte Á, Giménez R, González-Sampériz P, Gil-Romera G, Aldezabal A, Bartolomé M. 2025. Ice caves in the Pyrenees: Past, present, and future, Metode Science Studies Journal 15, e30307. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.15.30307
Sancho C, Belmonte Á, Leunda M, Luetscher M, Spötl C, López-Moreno JI, Oliva-Urcia B, López-Martínez J, Moreno A, Bartolomé M. 2025. Unprecedent cave ice melt in the last 6100 years in the Central Pyrenees (A294 ice cave), The Cryosphere 19, 6283–6300. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6283-2025
2024
Bartolomé M, Moreno A, Sancho C, Cacho I, Stoll H, Haghipour N, Belmonte Á, Spötl C, Hellstrom J, Edwards RL, Cheng H. 2024. Reconstructing hydroclimate changes over the past 2500 years using speleothems from Pyrenean caves (NE Spain), Climate of the Past 20, 467–494 https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-467-2024
2023
Bartolomé M, Cazenave G, Luetscher M, Spötl C, Gázquez F, Belmonte Á, Turchyn AV, López-Moreno JI, Moreno A. 2023. Mountain permafrost in the Central Pyrenees: insights from the Devaux ice cave, The Cryosphere 17, 477–497. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-477-2023
Bernal-Wormull JL, Moreno A, Bartolomé M, Arriolabengoa M, Pérez-Mejías C, Iriarte E, Osácar C, Spötl C, Stoll H, Cacho I, Edwards RL, Cheng H. 2023. New insights into the climate of northern Iberia during the Younger Dryas and Holocene: The Mendukilo multi-speleothem record, Quaternary Science Reviews 305, 108006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108006
Giménez R, Bartolomé M, Ezquerro L, Benito G, Luetscher M, Moreno A. 2023. Hydrological and Environmental Dynamics in Las Güixas Show Cave: Tourist Exploitation and Flood Risk Management, in: EuroKarst 2022, Málaga, 165–170. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16879-6_24
2019
Bartolomé M, Sancho C, Benito G, Medialdea A, Calle M, Moreno A, Leunda M, Luetscher M, Muñoz A, Bastida J, Cheng H, Edwards RL. 2021a. Effects of glaciation on karst hydrology and sedimentology during the Last Glacial Cycle: The case of Granito cave, Central Pyrenees (Spain), CATENA 206, 105252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2021.105252
Bartolomé M, Benito G, Luetscher M, Badules-Iglesias J, Pérez-Villar G, Edwards RL, Moreno A. 2021b. The potential of Ojo de Valjunquera cave (NE of Iberia) sediments for paleoflood reconstructions, Cuaternario y Geomorfología. 35 (3–4), 11–28. https://doi.org/10.17735/cyg.v35i3-4.89413
Bernal-Wormull JL, Moreno A, Pérez-Mejías C, Bartolomé M, Aranburu A, Arriolabengoa M, Iriarte E, Cacho I, Spötl C, Edwards RL, Cheng H. 2021. Immediate temperature response in northern Iberia to last deglacial changes in the North Atlantic, Geology 49, 999–1003. https://doi.org/10.1130/G48660.1
Giménez R, Bartolomé M, Gázquez F, Iglesias M, Moreno A. 2021. Underlying Climate Controls in Triple Oxygen (16 O, 17 O, 18 O) and Hydrogen (1 H, 2 H) Isotopes Composition of Rainfall (Central Pyrenees), Frontiers in Earth Science 9, 209. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.633698
Leunda M, González‐Sampériz P, Gil‐Romera G, Bartolomé M, Belmonte‐Ribas Á, Gómez‐García D, Kaltenrieder P, Rubiales JM, Schwörer C, Tinner W, Morales‐Molino C, Sancho C. 2019. Ice cave reveals environmental forcing of long-term Pyrenean tree line dynamics, Journal of Ecology 107, 814–828. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13077
Aranbarri J, Bartolomé M, Alcolea M, Sancho C, Celant A, González-Sampériz P, Arenas C, Magri D, Rodríguez-Lázaro J. Palaeobotanical insights from Early-Mid Holocene fluvial tufas in the Moncayo Natural Park (Iberian Range, NE Spain): Regional correlations and biogeographic implications, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 234, 31–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2016.08.006