Alan Wanamaker

Alan D Wanamaker

Position
  • Professor
Department
  • Geological and Atmospheric Sciences
My training is in climate change, paleoclimate and geology (PhD, University of Maine; BA, University of New Hampshire), and teaching (MA, University of New Hampshire). I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geological & Atmospheric Sciences and participate in Environmental Science and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology interdepartmental graduate degree programs. Prior to this appointment, I completed a two-year postdoc at Bangor University (School of Ocean Sciences) in the UK.

Contact Info

151 Science
2237 Osborn Dr.
Ames
,
IA
50011-1027
Email
adw@iastate.edu
Phone
515-294-5142

Affiliations

More Information

Research

Research focuses on climate variability and mechanisms of climate change in the northern North Atlantic Ocean during the Holocene. I am interested in developing new geo- chemical tools and proxy records for paleoceanographic applications; much of this work is grounded in modern calibration studies.

Broader Impact

I use light stable isotopes and other proxy techniques to better characterize natural systems in the context of solving environmental problems. By doing this, we can better document the natural range of variability in these systems. This allows us to better understand the impacts global change might bring due to increased anthropogenic forcing. Such records provide a framework to contextualize both natural and anthropogenic components of modern systems.

Key Environmental Science Publications

Wanamaker, A. D., Jr., Kreutz, K.J., Schöne, B.R., and Introne, D.S., (2011) Gulf of Maine shells reveal changes in seawater temperature seasonality during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age, Palaeogeography, Palaeclimatology, Palaeoecology, 302, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.06.005

Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Heinemeier, J., Scourse, J.D., Richardson, C.A., Butler, P.G., Eiríksson, J., and Knudsen, K.L., (2008), Very-long lived mollusks confirm 17th century AD tephra-based radiocarbon reservoir ages for north Icelandic shelf waters, Radiocarbon, 50(3), 399-412

Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Kreutz, K.J., Schöne, B.R., Pettigrew, N.R., Borns, H.W., Jr., Introne, D.S., Belknap, D., Maasch, K.A., and Feindel, S., (2008), Coupled North Atlantic slope water forcing on Gulf of Maine temperatures over the past millennium, Climate Dynamics, 31, doi:10.1007/s00382-0070344-8

Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Kreutz, K.J., Borns, H.W., Jr., Introne, D.S., Feindel, S., Funder, S., Rawson, P.D., and Barber, B.J., (2007), Experimental determination of salinity, temperature, growth, and metabolic effects on shell isotope chemistry of Mytilus edulis collected from Maine and Greenland, Paleoceanography, 22, PA2217, doi:10.1029/2006PA001352