Professor Ulrich Salzmann

Professor

Department: Geography and Environmental Sciences

I am Professor of Palaeoecology & Palaeoclimatology in the Department of Geography & Environmental Sciences, and Director of the NERC Doctoral Training Partnership ONEPlanet. Prior to joining Northumbria University, I worked at the British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK (2005-2010), the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) in Bremen, Germany (2003-2005) and the Institute for Archaeology & Archaeobotany, University of Frankfurt, Germany (1998-2002), where I received my PhD degree on the vegetation and climate history of the West African savanna.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My research focuses on the reconstruction of the Earth’s past environments. I am particularly interested in the palaeoclimatology and palaeoecology of tropical and polar regions. My research includes:

Antarctic and Arctic climate and vegetation change. The polar regions play a key role in our understanding of environmental change in a warmer-than-present world. I am reconstructing Antarctic land-ocean interactions before the onset of glaciation and during past warm periods to understand the forcing and feedback mechanisms controlling polar glaciation throughout the past Greenhouse to Icehouse transition.

Global synthesis of climate proxy data for testing and improving numerical climate models. By combining palynology with data-model comparison, my research fosters a deeper understanding of how terrestrial environments responded, and might respond in the future, to rapid changes in temperatures and atmospheric CO₂ concentration.

Quaternary vegetation change and human impact. I have a strong interest in assessing the role of early human impact and climate change. A thorough understanding of the importance of human impact is essential for the development of sustainable management and appropriate mitigation strategies for the future.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

"As Good as (G)Old? Comparing Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of Restored and Natural Mangrove Forests in the Wallacea Region (CoReNat)“; NERC (Co-I)
“Super-Warm Early Eocene Temperatures and climate: understanding the response of the Earth system to high CO2 through integrated modelling and data – SWEET”; NERC Large Grant (Co-I)
“The Pliocene of Northwest China: Understanding aridification in a warmer world”; Royal Society (PI)
“Southern High Latitude Vegetation Response to Rapid Climate Change at the Cenozoic Greenhouse to Icehouse Transition”, NERC (PI)
“Late Pliocene soils and lakes: A global data set for the analysis of climate feedbacks in a warmer world”, NERC (PI)

Email Ulrich

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Ice sheet–free West Antarctica during peak early Oligocene glaciation, Klages, J., Hillenbrand, C., Bohaty, S., Salzmann, U., Bickert, T., Lohmann, G., Knahl, H., Gierz, P., Niu, L., Titschack, J., Kuhn, G., Frederichs, T., Müller, J., Bauersachs, T., Larter, R., Hochmuth, K., Ehrmann, W., Nehrke, G., Rodríguez-Tovar, F., Schmiedl, G., Spezzaferri, S., Läufer, A., Lisker, F., Van De Flierdt, T., Eisenhauer, A., Uenzelmann-Neben, G., Esper, O., Smith, J., Pälike, H., Spiegel, C., Dziadek, R., Ronge, T., Freudenthal, T., Gohl, K. 19 Jul 2024, In: Science
A large-scale transcontinental river system crossed West Antarctica during the Eocene, Zundel, M., Spiegel, C., Mark, C., Millar, I., Chew, D., Klages, J., Gohl, K., Hillenbrand, C., Najman, Y., Salzmann, U., Ehrmann, W., Titschack, J., Bauersachs, T., Uenzelmann-Neben, G., Bickert, T., Müller, J., Larter, R., Lisker, F., Bohaty, S., Kuhn, G. 7 Jun 2024, In: Science Advances
Deciphering local and regional hydroclimate resolves contradicting evidence on the Asian monsoon evolution, Wolf, A., Ersek, V., Braun, T., French, A., McGee, D., Bernasconi, S., Skiba, V., Griffiths, M., Johnson, K., Fohlmeister, J., Breitenbach, S., Pausata, F., Tabor, C., Longman, J., Roberts, W., Chandan, D., Peltier, W., Salzmann, U., Limbert, D., Trinh, H., Trinh, A. 14 Sep 2023, In: Nature Communications
Highly restricted near‐surface permafrost extent during the mid-Pliocene warm period, Guo, D., Wang, H., Romanovsky, V., Haywood, A., Pepin, N., Salzmann, U., Sun, J., Yan, Q., Zhang, Z., Li, X., Otto-Bliesner, B., Feng, R., Lohmann, G., Stepanek, C., Abe-Ouchi, A., Chan, W., Peltier, W., Chandan, D., Heydt, A., Contoux, C., Chandler, M., Tan, N., Zhang, Q., Hunter, S., Kamae, Y. 5 Sep 2023, In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Alpine permafrost could account for a quarter of thawed carbon based on Plio-Pleistocene paleoclimate analogue, Cheng, F., Garzione, C., Li, X., Salzmann, U., Schwarz, F., Haywood, A., Tindall, J., Nie, J., Li, L., Wang, L., Abbott, B., Elliott, B., Liu, W., Upadhyay, D., Arnold, A., Tripati, A. 1 Dec 2022, In: Nature Communications
Temperate rainforests near the South Pole during peak Cretaceous warmth, Klages, J., Salzmann, U., Bickert, T., Hillenbrand, C., Gohl, K., Kuhn, G., Bohaty, S., Tischak, J., Mueller, J., Frederichs, T., Bauersachs, T., Ehrmann, W., Van De Flierdt, T., Simoes, P., Larter, R., Lohmann, G., Niezgodzki, I., Uenzelmann-Neben, G., Zundel, M., Spiegel, C., Mark, C., Chew, D., Francis, J., Nehrke, G., Schwarz, F., Smith, J., Freudenthal, T., Esper, O., Paelike, H., Ronge, T., Dziadek, R. 2 Apr 2020, In: Nature
Southern Ocean warming and Wilkes Land ice sheet retreat during the mid-Miocene, Sangiorgi, F., Bijl, P., Passchier, S., Salzmann, U., Schouten, S., McKay, R., Cody, R., Pross, J., Van De Flierdt, T., Bohaty, S., Levy, R., Williams, T., Escutia, C., Brinkhuis, H. 22 Jan 2018, In: Nature Communications
Heterogeneity in global vegetation and terrestrial climate change during the late Eocene to early Oligocene transition, Pound, M., Salzmann, U. 24 Feb 2017, In: Scientific Reports
Challenges in quantifying Pliocene terrestrial warming revealed by data–model discord, Salzmann, U., Dolan, A., Haywood, A., Chan, W., Voss, J., Hill, D., Abe-Ouchi, A., Otto-Bliesner, B., Bragg, F., Chandler, M., Contoux, C., Dowsett, H., Jost, A., Kamae, Y., Lohmann, G., Lunt, D., Pickering, S., Pound, M., Ramstein, G., Rosenbloom, N., Sohl, L., Stepanek, C., Ueda, H., Zhang, Z. 2013, In: Nature Climate Change
Earth system sensitivity inferred from Pliocene modelling and data, Lunt, D., Haywood, A., Schmidt, G., Salzmann, U., Valdes, P., Dowsett, H. Jan 2010, In: Nature Geoscience

PGR Supervision

Michael Amoo Southern high-latitude vegetation and climate change across the Eocene and Oligocene and the role of the widening Tasmanian Gateway Start Date: 01/10/2019 End Date: 01/10/2023
Alasdair Thompson Global and Southern High Latitude Vegetation and Climate Change across the Paleogene: Insights from Plant Functional Type Diversity and Terrestrial Palynomorphs Start Date: 01/10/2019 End Date: 11/10/2024
Sina Panitz Pliocene Vegetation and Climate of Arctic Norway and the Variability of the Norwegian Atlantic Current Start Date: 01/11/2013 End Date: 30/03/2017
Florian Schwarz Pliocene vegetation and climate variability on the NE Tibetan Plateau (Qaidam and Kunlun Pass Basin) over glacial-interglacial timescales Start Date: 01/10/2015 End Date: 06/11/2019
Stephanie Strother Southern High-Latitude Vegetation and Climate Change During the Holocene (South Georgia) and Oligocene (Wilkes Land, Antarctica) Start Date: 14/09/2012 End Date: 25/02/2016
Philippa Summers Using Palynology for High Resolution Dating of Sub-Recent Small Water Body Sediment Cores from North East England Start Date: 13/11/2013 End Date: 13/06/2016

Qualifications

PhD December 01 1998
MSc February 01 1994
Fellow (FHEA) Higher Education Academy (HEA) 2018

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