Dr Nerilie Abram
Areas of expertise
- Palaeoclimatology 040605
- Oceanography 0405
- Geochemistry 0402
- Atmospheric Sciences 0401
Research interests
Tropical climate research (corals and speleothems)
Polar climate research (ice cores)
Please see my RSES profile page for more information: http://rses.anu.edu.au/people/dr-nerilie-abram
Biography
Career summary
My research goals are to build the knowledge of how the Earth’s climate has behaved in the past, and how its climate systems are now changing with anthropogenic greenhouse warming. My research involves using tropical coral reef and cave samples and polar ice cores to reconstruct past climates across a range of environments and time periods. My work utilises a wide array of chemical, isotopic and physical signals in these proxy records. I particularly enjoy being able to explain the direct human relevance of my research through scientific outreach and education.
My scientific work has taken me to Antarctica, Indonesia and Greenland. Outside of work I am also a mother of three children and I have a strong interest in helping to encourage women to excel in scientific careers.
Employment history
2011-present: Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University
QEII research fellow on the ARC-funded 2011-2016 discovery project "Climate and natural hazards in Australasia: a comprehensive impact analysis of prehistoric droughts, great earthquakes, and the Toba super-eruption" (DP110101161)
2004-2011: British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council (UK)
Post-doctoral researcher and work package manager in the ice core research team.
2000-2004: PhD, The Australian National University
PhD study at the Research School of Earth Sciences working on the project "Multi-proxy coral reconstruction of Holocene climate and reef growth in the eastern Indian Ocean". Awarded the Jaeger Scholarship and Robert Hill Memorial Prize.
1996-1999: BSc Advanced with honours and university medal, University of Sydney
Publications
- Abram, N, Mulvaney, R, Vimeux, F et al 2014, 'Evolution of the Southern Annular Mode during the past millennium', Nature Climate Change, vol. 4, no. 7, pp. 564-569.
- Murphy, E, Clarke, A, Abram, N et al 2014, 'Variability of sea-ice in the northern Weddell Sea during the 20th century', Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, vol. 119, no. 7, pp. 4549-4572.
- Abram, N, Wolff, E & Curran, M 2013, 'A review of sea ice proxy information from polar ice cores', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 79, pp. 168-183.
- Abram, N 2013, 'Antarctic ice ... going, going, gone?', in Leigh Dayton (ed.), The Curious Country, ANU ePress, Canberra, pp. 14-19.
- Abram, N, Mulvaney, R, Wolff, E et al 2013, 'Acceleration of snow melt in an Antarctic Peninsula ice core during the twentieth century', Nature Geoscience, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 404-411.
- Wheatley, J, Blackwell, P, Abram, N et al 2012, 'Automated ice-core layer-counting with strong univariate signals', Climate of the Past, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 1869-1879.
- Mulvaney, R, Abram, N, Hindmarsh, R et al 2012, 'Recent Antarctic Peninsula warming relative to Holocene climate and ice-shelf history', Nature, vol. 489, no. 7414, pp. 141-144.
- Gagan, M & Abram, N 2011, 'Stable Isotopes and Trace Elements', in David Hopley (ed.), Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs: Structure, Form and Process, Springer, Dordrecht The Netherlands, pp. 1034-1043.
- Abram, N, Mulvaney, R & Arrowsmith, C 2011, 'Environmental signals in a highly resolved ice core from James Ross Island, Antarctica', Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, vol. 116, no. D20116, pp. 1-15.
- D'Arrigo, R, Abram, N, Ummenhofer, C, et al 2011, 'Reconstructed streamflow for Citarum River, Java, Indonesia: Linkages to tropical climate dynamics', Climate Dynamics, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 451-462.
- Abram, N.J., Thomas, E.R., McConnell, J.R. et al 2010, 'Ice core evidence for a 20th century decline of sea ice in the Bellingshausen Sea, Antarctica' Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 115.
- Rothlisberger, R., Crosta, X., Abram, N.J. et al 2010 'Potential and limitations of marine and ice core sea ice proxies: an example from the Indian Ocean sector' Quaternary Science Reviews, 29: 296-302.
- Abram, N, McGregor, HV, Gagan, M et al 2009, 'Oscillations in the southern extent of the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool during the mid-Holocene', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 28, pp. 2794-2803.
- Hodgson, D.A., Abram, N.J., Anderson, J. et al 2009 'Antarctic climate and environmental history in the pre-instrumental period 'In: Turner, J. Convey P., di Prisco G., Mayewski P.A., Hodgson D.A., Fahrbach E, Bindschadler R. and Gutt J. (eds) Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment. Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research, Cambridge
- Ault, T.R., Cole, J.E., Evans, M.N., et al 2009 'Intensified decadal variability in tropical climate during the late 19th century' Geophysical Research Letters, 36: doi: 10.1029/2008GL036924.
- Abram, N, Gagan, M, Cole, J et al 2008, 'Recent intensification of tropical climate variability in the Indian Ocean', Nature Geoscience, vol. 1, pp. 849-853.
- Abram, N.J., Curran, M.A.J., Mulvaney, R. and Vance, T. 2008 'The preservation of methanesulphonic acid in frozen ice-core samples' Journal of Glaciology, 54: 680-684.
- McGregor, HV & Abram, N 2008, 'Images of diagenetic textures in Porites corals from Papua New Guinea and Indonesia', Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. G3, vol. 9, no. 10, pp. Q10013.
- Reda, T., Plugge, C.M., Abram, N.J. and Hirst, J. 2008 'Reversible interconversion of carbon dioxide and formate by an electroactive enzyme' Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105: 10654-10658, doi: 10610.11073/pnas.0801290105.
- Abram, N, Gagan, M, Liu, Z et al 2007, 'Seasonal Characteristics of the Indian Ocean Dipole during the Holocene epoch', Nature, vol. 445, no. 18, pp. 299-302.
- Abram, N.J., Mulvaney, R., Wolff, E.W. and Mudelsee, M 2007 'Ice core records as sea ice proxies: An evaluation from the Weddell Sea region of Antarctica' Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 112: doi: 10.1029/2006JD008139.
- Abram, N, Gagan, M, McCulloch, M et al 2004, 'Response to comment on Coral reef death during the 1997 Indian Ocean dipole linked to Indonesian wildfires', Science, vol. 303, pp. 1297b.
- Abram, N, Gagan, M, McCulloch, M et al 2004, 'The sudden death of a coral reef - response', Science, vol. 303, pp. 1293-1294.
- Grumet, N, Abram, N, Beck, J et al 2004, 'Coral radiocarbon records of Indian Ocean water mass mixing and wind-induced upwelling along the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia', Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 109, pp. C05003.
- Abram, N, Gagan, M, McCulloch, M et al 2003, 'Coral reef death during the 1997 Indian Ocean Dipole linked to Indonesian wildfires', Science, vol. 301, no. 5635, pp. 952-955.
- Abram, N.J., Webster, J.M., Davies, P.J. and Dullo, W.C. 2001 'Biological response of coral reefs to sea surface temperature variation: evidence from the raised Holocene reefs of Kikai-jima (Ryukyu Islands, Japan)' Coral Reefs, 20: 221-234.
Projects and Grants
Grants are drawn from ARIES. To add Projects or Grants please contact your College Research Office.
- Equator to Pole: Reconstructing tropical and Antarctic climate variability over the last millennium and their impacts on southern Australian rainfall (Primary Investigator)
- Climate and natural hazards in Australasia: A comprehensive impact analysis of prehistoric droughts, great earthquakes, and the Toba super-eruption (Secondary Investigator)
