Jean Lynch-Stieglitz is a paleoceanographer known for her research on reconstructing changes in ocean circulation over the last 100,000 years.

Education and career

An interest in the natural world, combined with the logic of science and math, attracted Lynch-Stieglitz to science and after a summer at the

Duke University Marine Laboratory The Duke University Marine Laboratory (commonly referred to as the "Duke Marine Lab") is a research facility and campus of Duke University on Piver's Island, near Beaufort and the Outer Banks, North Carolina specializing in studying marine biolog ...

she decided on a career in physical oceanography. In 1986, she earned B.S. degrees in physics and geology from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

and for two years she worked as an oceanographer at the

Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory The Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) is a federal laboratory in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR). It is one of seven NOAA Research Laboratories (RLs). The PM ...

. From 1988 until 1989 she worked at the

Maryland Science Center The Maryland Science Center, located in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, opened to the public in 1976. It includes three levels of exhibits, a planetarium, and an observatory. It was one of the original structures that drove the revitalization of the ...

and as a programmer at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

before moving to

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

where she earned an M.A. (1991) and Ph.D. (1995) in geological sciences. After two years as a postdoctoral scholar at

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...

, in 1996 she returned to New York where she joined the faculty of the

Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory The Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) is the scientific research center of the Columbia Climate School, and a unit of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. It focuses on climate and earth sciences and is located on a 189-acre (64 h ...

. In 2004, Lynch-Stieglitz moved to the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

where she was promoted to professor in 2010. From 2012 to 2015, Lynch-Stieglitz was the Editor of

Earth and Planetary Science Letters ''Earth and Planetary Science Letters'' (EPSL) is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research on physical, chemical and mechanical processes of the Earth and other planets, including extrasolar ones. Topics covered range from dee ...

. In 2015 Lynch-Stieglitz 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 ...

"for bringing physical oceanography approaches to the study of transient circulation changes during ice ages, providing a window into the ocean’s interaction with today’s climate change."

Research

Lynch-Stieglitz's research links the ocean and climate over the past 100,000 years. She has used carbon isotopes in benthic

foraminifera Foraminifera (; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular Ectoplasm (cell biology), ectoplasm for catching food and ot ...

to reconstruct air-sea exchange in carbon isotopes, changes in the movement of deep water masses, and Antarctic Intermediate Water in the transitions between glacial and interglacial periods. In the Atlantic Ocean, she has examined movement of the Gulf Stream during the

Last Glacial Maximum The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period that ice sheets were at their greatest extent. Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Eur ...

and linked changes in the

Atlantic meridional overturning circulation The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is part of a global thermohaline circulation in the oceans and is the zonally integrated component of surface and deep currents in the Atlantic Ocean. It is characterized by a northward fl ...

and to rapid changes in climate. Her research also extends to regions where ice alters the exchange of carbon dioxide between atmosphere and ocean in glacial periods, and work in the Pacific Ocean where she has examined

sea surface temperature Sea surface temperature (SST), or ocean surface temperature, is the ocean temperature close to the surface. The exact meaning of ''surface'' varies according to the measurement method used, but it is between and below the sea surface. Air mass ...

s from the Last Glacial Maximum to the present.

Selected publications

* * *

Awards and honors

* Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow, National Academy of Sciences (1998) *Fellow,

(2015) *Cesare Emiliani Lecturer,

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 ...

(2018) *Fellow, American Geophysical Union (2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch-Stieglitz, Jean Duke University alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Georgia Tech faculty Fellows of the American Geophysical Union Women oceanographers American climatologists Geochemists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people