Professor Carrie Lear
Professor in Earth Science
School of Earth and Ocean Sciences
- Email:
- learc@cardiff.ac.uk
- Telephone:
- +44 (0)29 2087 9004
- Fax:
- +44 (0)29 2087 4326
- Location:
- 1.72, Main Building
- Media commentator
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Interests
- Past climate change
- Geochemical proxies
- Long-term ice sheet stability
- Cenozoic palaeoceanography
- Chair in Earth Sciences, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University (2016-Present)
- Head of Changing Earth and Oceans Research Group
- Founder and Chair of UK Paleoclimate Society
- Member of Editorial Board of Geology
- Member of REF2021 Sub-panel 7
- Reader in Earth Sciences, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University (2013 – 2016)
- Senior Lecturer in Earth Sciences, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University (2009-2013)
- Lecturer in Earth Sciences, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University (2004-2009)
- Postdoctoral Research Associate, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, NJ, USA (2001-2004)
- PhD – Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, UK (2000)
- BA (hons) Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, UK (1997)
Honours and awards
Bigsby Medal, Geological Society of London (2017)
Philip Leverhulme Prize (2005)
Bateman Scholarship (Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge)
Geology Prize and Scholarship (University of Oxford) (1994-1997)
Professional memberships
President of the UK Paleoclimate Society
2019
- Greenop, R.et al. 2019. Orbital forcing, ice-volume and CO2 across the Oligocene-Miocene Transition. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, pp. -. (10.1029/2018PA003420)
2018
- Sosdian, S.et al. 2018. Constraining the evolution of Neogene ocean carbonate chemistry using the boron isotope pH proxy. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 498, pp. 362-376. (10.1016/j.epsl.2018.06.017)
- Barrientos, N.et al. 2018. Arctic Ocean benthic foraminifera Mg/Ca ratios and global Mg/Ca-temperature calibrations: New constraints at low temperatures. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 236, pp. 240-259. (10.1016/j.gca.2018.02.036)
- Evans, D.et al. 2018. No substantial long-term bias in the Cenozoic benthic foraminifera oxygen-isotope record. Nature Communications 9, article number: 2875. (10.1038/s41467-018-05303-4)
- Gray, W. R.et al. 2018. Deglacial upwelling, productivity and CO2 outgassing in the North Pacific Ocean. Nature Geoscience 11(5), pp. 340-344. (10.1038/s41561-018-0108-6)
- Diester-Haass, L., Billups, K. and Lear, C. 2018. Productivity changes across the mid-Pleistocene climate transition. Earth-Science Reviews 179, pp. 372-391. (10.1016/j.earscirev.2018.02.016)
- Detlef, H.et al. 2018. Sea ice dynamics across the Mid-Pleistocene transition in the Bering Sea. Nature Communications 9(1), article number: 941. (10.1038/s41467-018-02845-5)
- Ladant, J.et al. 2018. Meridional contrasts in productivity changes driven by the opening of Drake Passage. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 33(3), pp. 302-317. (10.1002/2017PA003211)
- Coxall, H. K.et al. 2018. Export of nutrient rich Northern Component Water preceded early Oligocene Antarctic glaciation. Nature Geoscience 11(3), pp. 190-196. (10.1038/s41561-018-0069-9)
2017
- Hasenfratz, A.et al. 2017. Mg/Ca-temperature calibration for the benthic foraminifera Melonis barleeanum and Melonis pompilioides. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 217, pp. 365-383. (10.1016/j.gca.2017.08.038)
- Greenop, R.et al. 2017. A record of Neogene seawater δ11B reconstructed from paired δ11B analyses on benthic and planktic foraminifera. Climate of the Past Discussions 13, pp. 149-170. (10.5194/cp-13-149-2017)
- Lunt, D. J.et al. 2017. The DeepMIP contribution to PMIP4: experimental design for model simulations of the EECO, PETM, and pre-PETM (version 1.0). Geoscientific Model Development 10(2), pp. 889-901. (10.5194/gmd-10-889-2017)
2016
- Lear, C.et al. 2016. Breathing more deeply: deep ocean carbon storage during the mid-Pleistocene climate transition. Geology 44(12), pp. 1035-1038. (10.1130/G38636.1)
- Lear, C. H. and Lunt, D. 2016. How Antarctica got its ice. Science 352, pp. 34-35. (10.1126/science.aad6284)
2015
- Lear, C. H.et al. 2015. Neogene ice volume and ocean temperatures: Insights from infaunal foraminiferal Mg/Ca paleothermometry. Paleoceanography 30(11), pp. 1437 -1454. (10.1002/2015PA002833)
- Kennedy, A.et al. 2015. Atmospheric and oceanic impacts of Antarctic glaciation across the Eocene–Oligocene transition. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences 373(2054), article number: 20140419. (10.1098/rsta.2014.0419)
- Mitchell, N., Simmons, H. and Lear, C. H. 2015. Modern and ancient hiatuses in the pelagic caps of Pacific guyots and seamounts and internal tides. Geosphere 11(5), pp. 1590-1606. (10.1130/GES00999.1)
- Butler, S.et al. 2015. The Mg/Ca–temperature relationship in brachiopod shells: Calibrating a potential palaeoseasonality proxy. Chemical Geology 397, pp. 106-117. (10.1016/j.chemgeo.2015.01.009)
2014
- Mudelsee, M.et al. 2014. Cenozoic climate changes: A review based on time series analysis of marine benthic δ18O records. Reviews of Geophysics -Richmond Virginia then Washington- 52(3), pp. 333-374., article number: 2013RG000440. (10.1002/2013RG000440)
- Greenop, R.et al. 2014. Middle Miocene climate instability associated with high-amplitude CO2 variability. Paleoceanography 29(9), pp. 845-853. (10.1002/2014PA002653)
2013
- Badger, M. P.et al. 2013. CO2 drawdown following the middle Miocene expansion of the Antarctic ice sheet. Paleoceanography 28(1), pp. 42-53. (10.1002/palo.20015)
- Mawbey, E. M. and Lear, C. H. 2013. Carbon cycle feedbacks during the Oligocene-Miocene transient glaciation. Geology 41(9), pp. 963-966. (10.1130/G34422.1)
2012
- Sosdian, S.et al. 2012. Cenozoic seawater Sr/Ca evolution. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 13(10), article number: Q10014. (10.1029/2012GC004240)
- Foster, G. L., Lear, C. H. and Rae, J. W. B. 2012. The evolution of pCO2, ice volume and climate during the middle Miocene. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 341-44, pp. 243-254. (10.1016/j.epsl.2012.06.007)
- Gasson, E.et al. 2012. Exploring uncertainties in the relationship between temperature, ice volume, and sea level over the past 50 million years. Reviews of Geophysics 50(1), article number: RG1005. (10.1029/2011RG000358)
2010
- Lear, C. H., Mawbey, E. M. and Rosenthal, Y. 2010. Cenozoic benthic foraminiferal Mg/Ca and Li/Ca records: toward unlocking temperatures and saturation states. Paleoceanography 25(4), article number: PA4215. (10.1029/2009PA001880)
2008
- Gentry, D. K.et al. 2008. Stable isotope and Sr/Ca profiles from the marine gastropod Conus ermineus: testing a multiproxy approach for inferring paleotemperature and paleosalinity. Palaios 23(4), pp. 195-209. (10.2110/palo.2006.p06-112r)
- Lear, C. H.et al. 2008. Cooling and ice growth across the Eocene-Oligocene transition. Geology 36(3), pp. 251-254. (10.1130/G24584A.1)
- Burgess, C. E.et al. 2008. Middle Eocene climate cyclicity in the southern Pacific: implications for global ice volume. Geology 36(8), pp. 651-654. (10.1130/G24762A.1)
- Pearson, P. N.et al. 2008. Extinction and environmental change across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary in Tanzania. Geology 36(2), pp. 179-182. (10.1130/G24308A.1)
- Dunkley Jones, T.et al. 2008. Major shifts in calcareous phytoplankton assemblages through the Eocene-Oligocene transition of Tanzania and their implications for low-latitude primary production. Paleoceanography 23(4), article number: PA4204. (10.1029/2008PA001640)
- DeConto, R. M.et al. 2008. Thresholds for Cenozoic bipolar glaciation. Nature 455(7213), pp. 652-656. (10.1038/nature07337)
2006
- Lear, C. H. and Rosenthal, Y. 2006. Benthic foraminiferal Li/Ca: insights into Cenozoic seawater carbonate saturation state. Geology 34(11), pp. 985-988. (10.1130/G22792A.1)
- Rosenthal, Y.et al. 2006. Temperature and carbonate ion effects on Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios in benthic foraminifera: Aragonitic species Hoeglundina elegans. Paleoceanography 21(1), article number: PA1007. (10.1029/2005PA001158)
- Sosdian, S.et al. 2006. Strontium to calcium ratios in the marine gastropod Conus ermineus: Growth rate effects and temperature calibration. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 7(11), article number: Q11023. (10.1029/2005GC001233)
- Andreasen, D. H.et al. 2006. Fidelity of radially viewed ICP-OES and magnetic-sector ICP-MS measurement of Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios in marine biogenic carbonates: Are they trustworthy together?. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 7(10), article number: Q10P18. (10.1029/2005GC001124)
- Bailey, T. R. and Lear, C. H. 2006. Testing the effect of carbonate saturation on the Sr/Ca of biogenic aragonite: A case study from the River Ehen, Cumbria, UK. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 7(3), article number: Q03019. (10.1029/2005GC001084)
- Palike, H.et al. 2006. The Heartbeat of the Oligocene Climate System. Science 314(5807), pp. 1894-1898. (10.1126/science.1133822)
2005
- Coxall, H. K.et al. 2005. Rapid stepwise onset of Antarctic glaciation and deeper calcite compensation in the Pacific. Nature 433(7021), pp. 53-57. (10.1038/nature03135)
2004
- Lear, C. H.et al. 2004. Late Eocene to early Miocene ice sheet dynamics and the global carbon cycle. Paleoceanography 19(4), pp. 1-11. (10.1029/2004PA001039)
- Rosenthal, Y.et al. 2004. Interlaboratory comparison study of Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca measurements in planktonic foraminifera for paleoceanographic research. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 5(4), article number: Q04D09. (10.1029/2003GC000650)
2003
- Lear, C. H., Elderfield, H. and Wilson, P. A. 2003. A Cenozoic seawater Sr/Ca record from benthic foraminiferal calcite and its application in determining global weathering fluxes. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 208(1-2), pp. 69-84. (10.1016/S0012-821X(02)01156-1)
- Lear, C. H., Rosenthal, Y. and Wright, J. D. 2003. The closing of a seaway: ocean water masses and global climate change. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 210(3-4), pp. 425-436. (10.1016/S0012-821X(03)00164-X)
2002
- Lear, C. H., Rosenthal, Y. and Slowey, N. 2002. Benthic foraminiferal Mg/Ca-paleothermometry: a revised core-top calibration. Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta 66(19), pp. 3375-3387. (10.1016/S0016-7037(02)00941-9)
2000
- Lear, C. H., Elderfield, H. and Wilson, P. A. 2000. Cenozoic Deep-Sea Temperatures and Global Ice Volumes from Mg/Ca in Benthic Foraminiferal Calcite. Science 287(5451), pp. 269-272. (10.1126/science.287.5451.269)
I use the geochemistry of carbonate fossils as a window to past climatic change. For example, I use the Mg/Ca ratio of microscopic oceanic fossils called foraminifera to reconstruct past ocean temperatures, and their boron isotope ratios to reconstruct past changes in the carbon cycle and pCO2. Most of these fossil samples have been drilled from deep-sea sediments by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, and I have participated in several ocean coring expeditions. The overarching aim of my research is to understand feedbacks in the climate system and constrain the long-term sensitivity of continental ice sheets to changing environmental conditions, including CO2.
Paleoclimate and Paleoceanography
Geochemical Proxies
Current supervision
Amy Sparkes
Research student
