Masson-Delmotte was born 29 October 1971 to two English teachers, and she grew up in Nancy, in the northeast of France.[2] She completed a Diploma of Advanced studies in Engineering with honours at the Ecole Centrale Paris in 1993.[3] She also received her PhD in from the same institution in 1996, in fluid physics and transfers.[3] Her doctoral thesis was "Climate simulation of the Holocene means using general circulation models of the atmosphere; Impacts of parameterization”.[3]