My group and international collaborators aim to address a wide-ranging research topics, from climate change on earth at various time-scales to exploring the evolution of the solar system. You can get a feel for the types of research we have undertaken by checking out my Google Scholar page. Better yet, you can join us in this amazing adventure. Lately, I am trying to focus on what I call, "policy actiontionable science". We aim to provide constraints on future climate change based on high-resolution peleoclimate data. Here is a sampling of our recent work. Enjoy!
NSF-funded graduate study oppurtunities with my group
Project 1: UNM & the University of Michigan
Calibrating absolute temperature isotope proxies to reconstruct temperature variability in continents during glacial and interglacial periods.
Project 2: UNM, University of South Florida (USF), Harvard University.
This project’s main goal is to reconstruct sea level change through time, combining field, lab, and modeling work.
Application deadline: January 5, 2023
THE LATEST
In the latest issue of Science Advances, we show that sea level was remarkably stable for most of the 4000 years, except for a sudden jump of about 0.25 meters between 2,830 and 3,200 years before present. Modern sea level rise is about a factor 6 higher than the previous jump and likely the result of greenhouse gas warming of the Earth.
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Asmerom elected AGU Fellow
University of New Mexico Distinguished Professor Yemane Asmerom was elected as an American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) Fellow. He joined 53 other individuals from around the world in the 2022 Class of Fellows.
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In the latest issue of Nature, our international team reports sea level as high as 16 meters during a period of earth history when CO2 in the atmosphere was at current levels.
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Based on isotopic data from Belize and others in the Neotropics, we report in the journal Science Advances that the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) - corresponding to the rainfall belt of the tropics, will shrink as the Earth warms, leading to increased aridity in places such as Central American countries and southern Brazil. Read More
We report an age of 109,000 years for a Hominin child in Central Asia, dating back to a time, based on the genetic clock, of Neanderthal-modern human interbreeding. .
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The Azores (Bermuda) High impact rainfall patters across the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean regions. In this research published Nature Geosciences,we show large industrial period increases in the Azores high, the highest for the 1200 years, leading to droughts in the Iberian Peninsula, and shifting moisture toward the North Sea region."
We have the instrumentation and clean labs with full isotopic and elemental capabilities. Our isotopic techniques include uranium-series isotopes and other long-lived isotopic systems, providing the ability to determine time from decades to billions of years.
El Niño/La Niña Update
World Meteorological Organization update on the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). ENSO has impact on the hydroclimate of the southwestern United States. El Niño events are associated with higher than normal precipitation while La Niña years are drier than normal..
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