Jennifer Harden is geologist known for her research on soils, particularly tracking changes in soil profiles over time and the role of soil systems in carbon and nitrogen cycling.

Education and career

Harden earned her B.S. (1976), M.S. (1979), and Ph.D. (1982) from the

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

. Following her Ph.D. she joined the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

where she became a scientist emeritus in 2013. Harden was elected a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

in 2011. In 2015, Harden was elected a fellow of the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's act ...

who cited her "for fundamental contributions to quantitative understanding of soils in global change and carbon cycling".

Research

Harden's Ph.D. research used different properties of the soil to establish a "profile development index" or "soil development index" which can be used to track changes in soil over millions of years. Harden and others use this to track the age of soils and changing climate conditions. Harden's research has also considered carbon lost from soils in forests and cropland, and the capture of carbon in soil during deglaciation of the

Laurentide Ice Sheet The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered millions of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the Northern United States, multiple times during the Quaternary glacial epochs, from 2.58 million years a ...

. The connections between fire in boreal forests and carbon is another focus of Harden's research. She has examined the impact of burning and permafrost in soils and assessed the level of organic carbon transferred to the atmosphere from soils in Alaskan forests and

peatland A mire, peatland, or quagmire is a wetland area dominated by living peat-forming plants. Mires arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, due to water-logging and subsequent anoxia. All types ...

. With

Margaret Torn Margaret Torn is an ecologist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory known for her research on carbon cycling, especially with respect to the interactions between soils and the atmosphere. Education and career Torn grew up in Marin county and ...

, Harden co-advised

Asmeret Asefaw Berhe Asmeret Asefaw Berhe is a soil biogeochemist and political ecologist who is the current Director of the Office of Science at the US Department of Energy. She was previously the Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry and the Ted and Jan Falasco Chair ...

in her research on soil erosion which showed that erosion allow soils to store more carbon. Harden has also quantified the amount of carbon and nitrogen that would be released under different future climate scenarios from

Gelisol Gelisols are an order in USDA soil taxonomy. They are soils of very cold climates which are defined as containing permafrost within two meters of the soil surface. The word "Gelisol" comes from the Latin ''gelare'' meaning "to freeze", a referen ...

s, soils impacted by permafrost. Through collaborative research projects, Harden has quantified the amount of soil organic carbon stored in permafrost and the release of this organic carbon under warming climate conditions.

Selected publications

* * *

Awards and honors

* Fellow, American Geophysical Union (2015) * Fellow,

(2011)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harden, Jennifer Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Geophysical Union University of California, Berkeley alumni United States Geological Survey personnel Living people Women geologists American climatologists Year of birth missing (living people)