In October-December 2011 I am taking part in an IMCOAST (http://www.imcoast.org/) field campaign via collaborations with the British Antarctic Survey, the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine research, and the Argentine Antarctic Institute.

I am a Senior Research Associate in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University, UK. My research focuses on the use of biomarkers (“molecular fossils”) for reconstructing past environmental and climatic change using lake sediment archives and with the main focus on the Quaternary (the last 2.6 million years). Examination of the molecular remains of organisms (e.g. plants, algae, bacteria) in lake sediments can tell us what was living in the lake in the past and thus what the environment and climate was like.

My interest in Antarctica focuses on providing new information on how temperature and precipitation have changed in the South Atlantic region of the Southern Ocean, in particular over the past 5000 years. By studying the impact natural warming has had on climatically significant areas around the world, such as the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic region, we will be able to better understand the impact that ‘global warming’ may have in the future.