School of Earth & Environmental Sciences
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School of Earth & Environmental Sciences Newsletter Number 15 March 2019 Welcome from the Head of School Dear All Happy 2019! The New Year is only into its light to fill the position Jonathan left and, as second month and we already have good I type, we are in the process of recruiting and news to relay. Having always prided ourselves I hope to be writing to you about our newest in our teaching, we were delighted when the colleague in the next Newsletter. School was ranked as the No. 1 Earth Science This is a nice segue to inform you that our programme in the UK in the 2018 National newest colleague, Dr Michael Byrne, along Student Survey and 4th in the 2019 Complete with his wife, Gemma, and their 5-month- University Guide League Tables, just behind old twins, Mattie and Aibhín, will be joining Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial. Further, us full-time come September. We are excited the most recent metrics by Thomson Reuters about Michael bringing his climate modelling Analytics show that citations of our research expertise to the School and look forward to enhancing our Global Change and Earth Surface Processes research areas, as well as our curriculum in the crucial area of climate change. All-in-all, I think you will agree that we have started the New Year well. Until next time, Cheers, STAFF NEWS (Fig. A) place us as one of the top programmes in the world and at the forefront for international collaborations (Fig.B). For comparison, our Last July, Claire Cousins was elected into the companion science Schools at St Andrews are Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy shown in their positions for their respective of Scotland. disciplines. I am enormously proud of these achievements, which are testament to the James Rae was awarded a €2m grant to commitment and dedication of my colleagues. reconstruct CO2 and climate change over the We have also had some personnel changes last 100 million years of Earth’s history. James since the last Newsletter. Declining funding will use the ERC Starting Grant to examine the has resulted in GeoBus evolving into a largely fundamental mechanisms governing Earth’s web-based resource and Dr Jen Brooke, the environmental evolution and improve current educational coordinator of GeoBus, has taken predictions of how the environment will on the additional role of Outreach, Impact and response to future changes in carbon dioxide Recruitment Officer. Feel free to contact Jen levels. Carbon dioxide exerts a major control directly for further information about these on Earth’s environment, including ocean aspects. (See article below). acidity and global climate. Human carbon emissions have elevated carbon dioxide levels Jonathan Cloutier and his family have moved to levels substantially higher than at any time to Hobart where he has been employed in the in the last the 800,000 years. Centre for Ore Deposits and Earth Sciences at James said: “If we want to understand how the University of Tasmania, and we give them Earth’s environment and climate will respond our best wishes for a successful and happy life to a high carbon dioxide world, we need to Down Under. We have been given the green look deeper into the geological past.” Hearty congratulations are due to Sarah https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ah- Rugheimer who, last July, won the Caroline Nrsk1oAiwUF91IFOh 33RAmWV4nXw/ Herschel Lectureship Prize of the William view?usp=sharing Herschel Society and the Royal Astronomical Society. It is awarded to early-career Sarah Rugheimer left SEES in September researchers for achievements in astronomy- 2018 to join the Physics Department, University related research and/or instrumentation and/ of Cambridge, to take up the prestigious or communication and/or teaching. As part of Glasstone Fellowship. the Prize, Sarah gave a Lecture at the University of Bath in November as a part of the prestigious William Herschel Society Astronomy Lectures James Rae Series and at an RAS Public Lecture in London. A team of scientists, led by the University of St Andrews, has shown that rapid CO2 release from the ocean around Antarctica helped end Nicky Allison and Adrian Finch got their the last ice age. NERC grant funded: Trace element and isotope The findings published in Nature (25 October partitioning in carbonates in simulated biological 2018), found that CO was stored in the deep environments. 2 Southern Ocean during the last ice age and then released into the atmosphere as the ice Three cheers to Rob Wilson as part of a age ended, linked to pulses of rapid climate successful consortium (Cambridge, Edinburgh, change and melting sea ice. Leeds, StAndrews) funded by NERC to The new study, led by Dr James Rae address: Reconciling volcanic forcing and climate from SEES, provides crucial evidence of the records throughout the last millennium (Vol-Clim). processes that controlled CO2 and climate during ice ages. Although scientists have long- Fernando Gasquez published a paper known that CO2 rise helped end the last ice last August in Science confirming the Maya age, its cause has remained a mystery. civilisation collapse was drought-related. In Lead researcher Dr Rae said: “Many scientists even more exciting news for him, he recently suspected that the ocean round Antarctica was got an offer he could not refuse - his dream responsible for changing CO2 levels during ice job! Starting November 1, Fernando took up ages, but there’s not previously been data that a 3-year fellowship leading to a permanent directly proved this.” position at the University of Almería in his Using samples of fossil deep sea corals, brought home town in Spain. up from 1000 metres below the sea surface, Dr Rae and his team made chemical measurements successfully obtained and retained Tim Raub that allowed them to reconstruct the CO2 support from the Global Challenges Research content of the deep ocean. The researchers Fund for his work in leading the project found that the deep ocean CO2 record was focussing on Understanding Drought Cycles the “mirror image” of CO2 in the atmosphere, Across South-Central Africa: Impact on with the ocean storing CO2 during an ice age Integrated Renewable Energy Strategies. and releasing it back to the atmosphere during deglaciation. Will McCarthy and his wife Kate had a baby “CO2 rise during the last ice age occurs in girl! Skye was born on Monday 27 August. All a series of steps and jumps associated with are doing well. intervals of rapid climate change,” explained Professor Laura Robinson from the University of Bristol, who collected the samples from the In September 2018, Rob Wilson had a prime Southern Ocean. “Deep sea corals capture slot on the BBC. As many of you know, Rob’s information about these climate changes in work was the focus of a BBC film crew a month the chemistry of their skeletons but are hard or so ago and he’s made it onto the Breakfast to find.” Show. This is great publicity for the School. DOI (dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0614-0 GeoBus shared activities developed with Will Gray left SEES in November to take up climate scientists at the University of St an academic position at LSCE in Paris. Andrews to show the effects of Climate Change at an event at Glasgow Science centre. Images Of Research The project created teaching resources as well In November, StAnd Engaged organised as science-centre and school activities, and a display at the Byre Theatre entitled focussed on the importance of introducing Research Image Gallery featuring St Andrews young people to the science behind Climate researchers in action. Four entries featured Change – but also on helping them discover staff from SEES: Adrian Finch in Greenland, potential solutions and encouraging them to Richard Batchelor pointing out tuff beds at play an active role in shaping the future of our Dunkeld, GeoBus running a climate change planet. activity and Nicky Horsburgh in the Mojave Desert in California visiting a Rare Earth Element mine. School of Earth and Environmental Science School of Earth and Environmental Science researcher Nicky Horsburgh is seen here on researcher Adrian Finch is seen here in a Society of Economic Geologists trip to the Greenland, as part of an exploration geology Mojave Desert, visiting Mountain Pass rare project looking for critical metal resources earth mine in California. Rare Earth Elements (rare earths are used in a range of modern are ubiquitous in modern technologies, technologies, niobium is used in superalloys including computers, low energy lighting, for building jet engines and tantalum is used energy storage devices and large wind turbines, used in electronic equipment, including mobile making their supply vital to our ever growing phones). technological society and the development of a low carbon economy. Honorary Research Fellow, Richard Batchelor, is here seen pointing to 600 million year old volcanic ash layers which he discovered in the Southern Highlands of Scotland near Dunkeld. Richard Batchelor published a book Jonathan Cloutier accepted a research entitled “History and Development of position at the Centre for Ore Deposit and Earth Geology at St Andrews in December 2018. Sciences (CODES), University of Tasmania. He Printing of the book was grant-funded by will be starting his new position on February The Russell Trust. Copies are available free 2019. The position will focus on conducting to alumni, but postage and package costs of research on sediment-hosted ore deposits of £3 (€4) should be sent to Richard at the SEES NE Australia. address. Richard Bates featured on a Channel 4 documentary Operation Iceberg, in December as a member of a team studying the dynamics of a large iceberg in the Arctic.