Dr Laurie Menviel

Deglacial changes in ocean circulation and their impact on atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂)

Atmospheric CO₂ increased by 90 ppm during the last deglaciation, but the sequence of events leading to this increase remains poorly constrained and a combination of mechanisms has been invoked to explain its full amplitude. In this presentation, numerical simulations and paleo-proxy records will be combined to highlight the potential changes in oceanic circulation that occurred from the Last Glacial Maximum (~21,000 years ago) to pre-industrial times. The impact of these oceanic circulation changes on the carbon cycle and atmospheric CO₂ will be discussed.

Biography

Laurie Menviel is an ARC Future Fellow at the University of New South Wales Sydney. She completed a MS in geochemistry from the University of Aix-Marseille (France) and a PhD in oceanography from the University of Hawaii (USA).

Laurie combines numerical experiments and paleoproxy records to study the impact of changes in oceanic circulation on the climate and carbon cycle. In 2015, she obtained an ARC DECRA fellowship to study the impact of abrupt climate change on the global carbon cycle, and she was recently awarded an ARC Future Fellowship to study the oceanic circulation during past warm periods.