Caltech Professor to Explore Abrupt Climate Changes

PASADENA, Calif.—By analyzing stalagmites from caves in Sarawak, which is the Malaysian section of Borneo and the location of one of the world's oldest rain forests, and by studying deep-sea corals from the North Atlantic Ocean, California Institute of Technology researcher Jess Adkins will explore the vital link between the deep ocean, the atmosphere, and abrupt changes in global climates.

The project, "Linking the Atmosphere and the Deep Ocean during Abrupt Climate Changes," is funded by the Comer Science and Educational Foundation.

Because the Sarawak stalagmites and the deep-sea corals are uranium rich and can be dated precisely, and because they both accumulate continuously, uninterrupted by "bioturbation," the biological process that mixes the upper several centimeters of ocean sediments, they provide unique archives of climate history. By utilizing these archives, Adkins and his research group will be able to chart and link major climate variables, and thereby provide critical insight into understanding rapid climate changes that could impact the earth.

Adkins, an assistant professor of geochemistry and global environmental science, joined Caltech in 2000. He received his PhD in 1998 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

The Comer Science and Education Foundation was established to promote education and discovery through scientific exploration.

Contact: Deborah Williams-Hedges (626) 395-3227 [email protected]

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