Paleoceanography - Prof. Timothy Herbert Professor Timothy D. Herbert Earth Systems History Current Research Themes Understanding how the earth's climatic system, particularly the ocean, adjusts itself to perturbation on various timescales drives most aspects of Prof. Herbert's research.
Research focuses on time series generation and analysis of sediments from a geochemical perspective.
Organic geochemists have recently discovered a tool that greatly helps us quantify sea surface temperatures in the past. The unsaturation index of C 37 ketones, synthesized exclusively by a few species of coccolithophorid algae, shows a linear relation to growth temperature. Alkenones can be extracted from most marine sediments and the unsaturation index is not reset by degradation. Our laboratory has developed methods to produce alkenone temperature estimates rapidly by automating extraction and gas chromatography. Note that temperatures along the California margin rise well before deglaciation in most cases, but stay locked to ice volume during interglacial periods.