LS
Member Since 1985
Liz L. Sikes
Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University New Brunswick
Liz Sikes’ studies the influence of the Southern Ocean on atmospheric CO2 and the interconnection between global carbon cycling, ocean circulation and climate change. She applies light stable isotopes, radiocarbon and organic biomarker compounds (e.g. alkenones) to paleoceanographic applications. She has been on 16 oceanographic voyages; 7 in the Southern Ocean, 3 as chief scientist. She received the AGU Emiliani Lecture in 2020 and the SCAR Medal for Excellence in Antarctic Research in 2022.
Professional Experience
Rutgers University New Brunswick
Distinguished Professor
2001 - Present
Education
MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography
Doctorate
1990
Honors & Awards
Union Fellow
Received December 2024
Cesare Emiliani Lecture
Received December 2020
Lecture Title: The Southern Ocean’s role in glacial cycles: Engine not caboose?
Lecture Title: The Southern Ocean’s role in glacial cycles: Engine not caboose?
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Publications
Deglacial Carbon Escape From the Northern Rim of the Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean regulates atmospheric CO2 and Earth's climate as a critical region for air‐sea gas exchange, delicately poised between bei...

April 20, 2024
AGU Abstracts
Changes in Northwest Atlantic Ocean Circulation Across the Last Deglaciation
OCEAN SCIENCES 2024
climate and ocean change | 20 february 2024
Clara Danhof, Aidan Starr, Elisabeth L. Sikes, Rya...
North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) is formed when warm, salty surface waters cool and sink in the northern North Atlantic, a process central to driving ...
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A Southeast Indian Ocean Case Study of Post-Depositional Influences on Foraminiferal Radiocarbon
BIOMINERALIZERS AS PROXIES: INSIGHTS FOR PALEOCEANOGRAPHY II POSTER
paleoceanography and paleoclimatology | 14 december 2023
Natalie Umling, Elisabeth L. Sikes, Patrick A. Raf...
Radiocarbon dating often serves as the backbone for marine sediment chronology development over the last ~40,000 years. As paleoceanographic records b...
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Evidence that deep gateway effect delayed resumption of AMOC in the Southern Ocean relative to deglacial CO2 release
ADVANCES IN UNDERSTANDING GLOBAL MERIDIONAL OVERTURNING CIRCULATION FROM PAST TO FUTURE: INSIGHTS FROM MULTIPLE APPROACHES II ORAL
ocean sciences | 14 december 2023
Elisabeth L. Sikes, Ryan Glaubke, Natalie Umling, ...
The Southern Ocean (SO) exerts a profound control on ocean mixing and water mass exchange between the major oceanic basins, and is thought to play a c...
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Volunteer Experience
2022 - 2021
Member
Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology Canvassing Committee
2021 - 2021
Member
Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology Emiliani Lecture Committee
2016 - 2019
Associate Editor
Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology
Check out all of Liz L. Sikes’s AGU Research!
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