Matthew Harris

PhD Researcher, Keele University IceLab
Fields of Research: Climate Science and Marine Science

PhD Research Project: Applying new techniques to reconstruct climate and ocean change in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, as preserved in ice cores.

I use a range of methods to measure 'proxies' in cores of ice from Antarctica. More specifically, I'm employing fluorescence spectroscopy and liquid water isotope analysis to reconstruct climate and ocean dynamics across high-resolution ‘horizontal’ Antarctic ice cores. Current model reconstructions of Holocene (<11,650 years BP) climate dynamics are starved for important constraining data, so proxy records spanning this period, particularly in the West Antarctic, are sorely needed. The novel application of these techniques will also offer new insights into the microbial content of ice cores, which remain a source of mystery for the scientific community.