Dr Julie Brigham-GretteProfessor
Quaternary/Glacial Geology
Arctic Paleoenvironments
Department of Geosciences
University of Massachusetts Amherst
juliebg@geo.umass.edu
Welcome
Julie Brigham-Grette was first inspired by Larry Taylor to study glacial geology and paleoclimates during an undergraduate Pleistocene course at Albion College back in the mid-1970s. Field trips to bluff exposures of interstratified tills and lacustrine deposits along Lake Michigan secured her fate as a Quaternary stratigrapher. Her graduate work was completed in the Dept of Geosciences, University of Colorado back in what seems like the late Holocene. After post-doctoral work at the University of Bergen, Norway and the University of Alberta, Canada, Brigham-Grette joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts in the Fall of 1987
As a member of the Climate System Research Center, Julie’s research is concerned with late Cenozoic marine and non-marine stratigraphic problems in Arctic regions and in regional correlations and paleoclimate reconstructions, especially across Arctic North America and eastern Russia. Long-range research interests are in the paleogeography and sea level history of the Bering Strait region and seas, the circum- Arctic coast, Arctic climate evolution since the Miocene. She is also involved with research on the deglacial history of New England.
Courses Taught
- Geo 103 Oceanography
- Geo 563 Glacial Geology
- Geo 591 Quaternary Glacial Stratigraphy
- Geo 591 Quaternary Geochronology
- Geo 763 Quaternary Seminar
Current research projects
- Paleoceanography and Sea Level history of the Bering and Chukchi Seas
- Paleoproxy development for indicators of past sea ice extent in Bering Strait region and adjacent Seas. In cooperation with Beth Cassie, Cecily Sharko and the UMass Department of Geosciences Biogeochemical Laboratory.
Current Polar Educational Programs
- IPY-STEM Polar Connections -- Summer Institutes for middle school and high school teachers.
- Polar TREC Teachers involved in my research:
Older Projects
Recent Publications: Chronologically by topic
Lake El’gygytgyn J of Paleolimnology January 2007
Brigham-Grette J., Martin Melles, Pavel Minyuk (Guest Editors), 2007, Arctic Record of the Last 250 ka from El'gygytgyn Crater J. of Paleolimnology 37(1) 1-162.
Brigham-Grette, J., Martin Melles, Pavel Minyuk, and Scientific Party, 2007. Overview and Significance of a 250 ka Paleoclimate Record from El’gygytgyn Crater Lake, NE Russia,J. of Paleolimnology. 37(1), 1-16
Nolan, M., and Brigham-Grette, J., 2007, Basic hydrology, limnology, and meteorology of modern Lake El’gygytgyn, Siberia, J. of Paleolimnology. 37(1), 17-35.
Forman, S.L. , Pierson, J., Gomex, J., Brigham-Grette, J., Nowaczyk, N.R, and Melles, M., 2007, Luminescence geochronology for sediments from Lake El’gygytgyn, northeast Siberia, Russia: constraining the timeing of paleoenvirommental events for the past 200ka, , J. of Paleolimnology. 37(1), 77-88.
Melles, M., Brigham-Grette, J., Glushkova, O.Yu., Minyuk, P. S., Nowaczyk, N.R., Hubberten, H.W., Sedimentary geochemistry of a pilot core from Lake El’gygytgyn – a sensitive record of climate variability in the East Siberian Arctic durng the past three climate cycles, J. of Paleolimnology. 37(1), 89-104.
Asikainen, C.A., Francus, P., Brigham-Grette, J., 2007, Sediment fabric, clay mineralogy, and grainsize as indicators of climate change since 65 ka at El’gygytgyn Crater Lake, Northeast Siberia, J. of Paleolimnology, 37(1), 105-122.
Minyuk, P.S., Brigham-Grette, J., Melles, M.M., Borkhodovev, V,Yu., Glushkova, O. Yu., 2007. Inorganic geochemistry of El’gygytgyn Lake sediments (northeastern Russia) as an indicator of paleoclimatic change for the last 250 kyr., J. of Paleolimnology. 37(1), 123-133.
Cherapanova, M.V., Snyder, J.A., and Brigham-Grette, J., 2007. Diatom Stratigraphy of the last 250 ka at Lake El’gygytgyn, northeast Sbieria, Paleolimnology. 37(1), 155-162.
Brigham-Grette, J. Melles, M., Minyuk, P., Koeberl, C., and Scientific party, 2009, Lake El’gygytgyn’s emerging IPY record of Pliocene to recent Arctic Change, PAGES News, v. 17(1), 19-21.
Bering Strait Region
Brigham-Grette, J., Lozhkin, AV, Anderson, PM., and Glushkova, Oyu. , 2004, “Paloenvironmental Conditions in Western Beringia before and during the Last Glacial Maximum” in Madsen, D.B., editor, Entering America: Northeast Asia and Beringia before the Last Glacial Maximum, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake UT,. Chapter 2, pg. 29-61
Keigwin, L. D., Donnelly J.P., Cook M.E., Driscoll N.W., Brigham-Grette, J., 2006, Rapid sea-level rise and Holocene climate in the Chukchi Sea, Geology 34; no. 10; p. 861–864
Hill, J. C., Driscoll, N., Brigham-Grette, J, Donnelly J.P., Gayes, PT, Keigwin, L., 2007, New evidence for high discharge to the Chukchi shelf since the Last Glacial Maximum, Quaternary Research 68, 271-278.
Caissie, B.E., Brigham-Grette, J., Lawrence, K. and Herbert, T., IN REVISION following review, Deglaciation to Holocene Sea Surface Condition at Umnak Plateau, Bering Sea as inferred by Diatom, Alkenone, and Stable Isotope Records, Paleoceanography. Feb 2009. 46 pages. (Caissie’s Msc research)
Lundeen, Z., Brigham-Grette, J., Petsch, S., Burns S,. IN FINAL DRAFT,, Elemental and Isotopic Constraints on the Late Glacial-Holocene Transgression and Paleoceanography of the Chukchi Sea, Paleoceanography, or G3. 37 page manuscript. (Lundeen’s graduate work under JBG)
Syntheses- Arctic and others
Otto-Bliesner, B.L., S. J. Marshall, J. T. Overpeck, G. H. Miller, A. Hu, and CAPE Last Interglacial Project Members, 2006, Simulating Warm-Arctic Climate and Ice Sheet Sensitivity for the Last Interglaciation, Science 311, 1751-1753., (JBG among Project members)
CAPE Last Interglacial Project Members, 2006, Last Interglacial Arctic Warmth Confirms Polar Amplification of Climate Change, Quaternary Science Reviews 25, 1383–1400. (JBG among Project members)
Brigham-Grette, J, and Haug, Gerald. 2007. Climate Dynamics and Global Environments: A community vision for the next decade in ICDP, In Ulrich Harms, Christian Koeberl and Mark D. Zoback (editors), Continental Scientific Drilling: a decade of progress, and challenges for the Future, Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York, pg. 53-94.
Alley, R.B, Brigham-Grette, J., Miller, G., Polyak, L., and White, J., 2009, Past Climate variability and change in the Arctic and at the High Latitudes, US Climate Change Science Program, Assessment and Synthesis, 9 chapters, 533 pages.
Fitzpatrick, J.J., Alley, R.B., Brigham-Grette, J., Miller, G.H., Polyak, L, and Serreze, M., 2009: Preface. In Past Climate Variability and Change in the Arctic and at High Latitudes. A report by the U.S. Climate Change Program and Subcommittee on Global Change Research. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA, pp. 8 – 21.
Alley, R.B., Fitzpatrick, J.J., Brigham-Grette, J., Miller, G.H., Muhs, D., and Polyak, L., 2009: Paleoclimate Concepts. In Past Climate Variability and Change in the Arctic and at High Latitudes. A report by the U.S. Climate Change Program and Subcommittee on Global Change Research. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA, pp. 22 – 76
Miller, G.H, Brigham-Grette, J., Anderson, L., Bauch, H., Douglas, M.A., Edwards, M.E., Elias, S., Finney, B., Funder, S., Herbert, T., Hinzman, L., Kaufman, D.K., MacDonald, G., Robock, A., Serreze, M., Smol, J., Spielhagen, R., Wolfe, A.P., Wolff, E., 2009: Temperature and Precipitation History of the Arctic. In Past Climate Variability and Change in the Arctic and at High Latitudes. A report by the U.S. Climate Change Program and Subcommittee on Global Change Research. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA, pp. 77 – 246. (in prep for Quaternary Science Reviews.
Polyak, L., Andrews, J. T., Brigham-Grette, J., Darby, D., Dyke, A., Funder, S., Holland, M., Jennings, A., Savelle, J., Serreze, M., Wolff, E., 2009: History of Sea Ice in the Arctic. In Past Climate Variability and Change in the Arctic and at High Latitudes. A report by the U.S. Climate Change Program and Subcommittee on Global Change Research. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA, pp. 358 – 420.
Alley, R.B., Brigham-Grette, J., Miller, G.H., Polyak, L, and White, J.W.C., 2009: Key Findings and Recommendations. In Past Climate Variability and Change in the Arctic and at High Latitudes. A report by the U.S. Climate Change Program and Subcommittee on Global Change Research. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA, pp. 421 – 430.
Brigham-Grette, J. Powell, R.D., Newman, L., and Kiefer, T. (editors), 2009, Change at the Poles: A Paleoscience perspective, PAGES News, v. 17(1), January 2009, 48 pgs. (includes editorial section) [download at
Svalbard REU
Trusel, L., D., Cumpston,R. M., ,Powell, R. D., & Brigham-Grette, J. , SUBMITTED, Modern Glacimarine Processes and Potential Future Behaviour of Kronebreen and Kongsvegen Polythermal Tidewater Glaciers, Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. The Geological Society of London Special Publication: Fjordic Depositional Systems and Archives. FEB 2009. 21 pages, 5 figures. (lead authors are students from our REU program).