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OU researcher to lead £800k project to improve global climate change predictions

Thursday 3 Nov 2022

A new OU-led project hopes to improve our ability to predict climate change using cutting-edge analysis of fossilised algae molecules.

Dr Marcus Badger, Senior Lecturer in Earth Sciences from the School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences and colleagues from the University of Birmingham will look to the Earth’s history to model how global temperatures will change within the next 100 years. The research could help scientists understand better how to tackle the climate crisis.

The Natural Environmental Research Council awarded more than £800k to the three-year project, which will examine the chemical signatures of alkenones – molecular fossils made by the same algae that make up the white cliffs of Dover.

The alkenone-producing algae lived during the Pliocene epoch, extending from more than five to two million years ago. Scientific evidence suggests the Earth’s conditions during the Pliocene were similar to today, with a comparable orbit around the sun, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and high global temperatures.