Antarctic ice cores, using records preserved in Antarctic ice to reconstruct past environmental change.
Research Area
I study past climate and environmental changes using Antarctic ice core records. Ice cores preserve a broad and detailed record of environmental conditions at approximately the time snow fell over the surface, making them faithful recorders of highly resolved paleoenvironmental information. The analysis of these ice records provides unique insights into past environmental changes, contributing with a detailed long-term perspective, key to better understanding the Earth system.
My research combines traditional ice chemistry with the novel analysis of insoluble microparticles trapped in the ice using continuous and discrete sampling methods. My research focuses on the study of mineral dust and other insoluble microparticles preserved in Antarctic ice (e.g.volcanic ash, phytoplankton, micrometeorites, pollen, pollutants). I conduct in-depth particle characterization, including morphometric, elemental and population analyses, to identify particle origin. I then study the temporal and spatial variability of these microparticle records to reconstruct environmental changes at the particle sources and transport mechanisms. My research is interdisciplinary, involving collaboration with vulcanologists, paleoceanographers, paleoclimatologists, and cosmochemists, among others. As part of the British Antarctic Survey ice core group, I have access to one of the largest Antarctic ice core archives worldwide, enabling the analysis of environmental changes over a wide range of timescales.
Project Interests
I am interested in developing projects to explore volcanic ash records preserved in Antarctic ice cores over the last 30.000 years, collaborating with Christine Lane in the Dept of Geography. Volcanic ash layers have been previously documented in Antarctic ice cores and linked to large volcanic eruptions, which are useful independent time markers to constrain ice chronologies. I welcome multidisciplinary student projects in the wide use of volcanic ash layers preserved in Antarctic ice to better understand how past volcanic activity could have impacted the environment and climate. I am also interested in exploring evidence of past Antarctic volcanism, aiming to constrain its frequency and effects on the cryosphere.
I am also interested in developing projects to explore extraterrestrial microparticle records preserved in Antarctic ice cores, collaborating with Richard Harrison in the Dept of Earth Sciences. The dry Antarctic desert is one of Earth's best environments for preserving extraterrestrial particles. Antarctic ice cores provide an unparalleled opportunity to study well-preserved and well-dated extraterrestrial microparticle records. I welcome multidisciplinary student projects aimed at exploring Antarctic extraterrestrial microparticle records along the following lines: understand interplanetary processes, changes in Earth's magnetic field, changes in the atmosphere, occurrence of low-altitude meteoritic events, extraterrestrial microparticle diversity and their use as potential temporal markers, spatial/temporal changes in the accretion of extraterrestrial microparticles and its environmental implications.
