Bridget Wade

Bridget S. Wade is a British micropalaeontologist who is a Professor at the University College London. Her research considers Cenozoic climate change, which she investigates by studying preserved planktonic foraminifera. Wade was a guest on the 2020 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures.

Bridget Wade
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
University of Leeds
Scientific career
InstitutionsTexas A&M University
University College London
ThesisHigh-resolution stable isotope records as indicators of late middle eocene climate change (2002)

Early life and education

Wade was an undergraduate student at the University of Leeds.[1] She moved to the University of Edinburgh for her graduate studies where she studied stable isotope records as a means to understand eocene climate change.[2] After earning her doctorate, Wade move to Cardiff University, where she was awarded a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) postdoctoral fellowship.[1]

Research and career

Wade started her independent scientific career in the United States, first at Rutgers University as a Lindemann Research Fellow and then as an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University.[1] There her work considered the Oligocene, the third time interval of the Paleogene. During this time interval a large ice sheet developed over Antarctica, which is now known as the Antarctic ice sheet. Wade studied the excellently presered microfossils in Konservat-Lagerstätte to build a model that can explain how the climate changed during the oligocene, and how this climate change impacted tropical biota.[3][4] She characterises these fossils using a combination of bio- and chemo- stratigraphic analysis.[1]

Wade has taken part in the Ocean Drilling Program, Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, International Continental Scientific Drilling Program and the Tanzania Drilling Project. This research resulted in Wade making contributions to the field of palaeontology, including identifying that before the extinction of Eocene planktonic foraminifera there was an increase in the production of surface water, which triggered the loss of algal photosymbionts.[1] She created a high-resolution astrochronological framework to allow for the characterisation of fluctuations in ice volume (including their magnitude and frequency) and evaluation of their impact on the global carbon cycle.[1]

In 2013 Wade joined University College London, where she was made Professor of Micropalaeontology. Her research considers the palaeocology of calcareous microfossils. These are fossils that are composed of calcite or aragonite.[5] In 2020 she reported that during this century the Greenland ice sheet would melt at the fastest rate it had been for over 12,000 years; six times faster than in the Early Holocene.[6] This loss of ice is predicted to cause rising sea-levels.[6]

Awards and honours

Selected publications
  • Wade, Bridget S.; Pearson, Paul N.; Berggren, William A.; Pälike, Heiko (January 2011). "Review and revision of Cenozoic tropical planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy and calibration to the geomagnetic polarity and astronomical time scale". Earth-Science Reviews. 104 (1–3): 111–142. Bibcode:2011ESRv..104..111W. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.09.003. ISSN 0012-8252.
  • Pälike, Heiko; Norris, Richard D.; Herrle, Jens O.; Wilson, Paul A.; Coxall, Helen K.; Lear, Caroline H.; Shackleton, Nicholas J.; Tripati, Aradhna K.; Wade, Bridget S. (2006-12-22). "The Heartbeat of the Oligocene Climate System". Science. 314 (5807): 1894–1898. Bibcode:2006Sci...314.1894P. doi:10.1126/science.1133822. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 17185595. S2CID 32334205.
  • Pearson, P. N.; Wade, B. S. (2007-01-01). "Stable warm tropical climate through the Eocene Epoch: COMMENT and REPLY: REPLY". Geology. 35 (1): e153. Bibcode:2007Geo....35E.153P. doi:10.1130/g24462y.1. ISSN 0091-7613.

References
  1. Olsson, Richard K. (2015-10-15). "Presentation of the 2013 Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society to Bridget S. Wade". Journal of Paleontology. 88 (3): 622–625. doi:10.1666/0022-3360-88.3.622. ISSN 0022-3360.
  2. Wade, Bridget (2001). High-resolution stable isotope records as indicators of late middle eocene climate change (Thesis). OCLC 54554322.
  3. "NSF Award Search: Award#0847300 - CAREER: Oligocene planktonic foraminiferal Konservat-Lagerstaette: Implications for taxonomy, paleobiology, and tropical marine temperatures". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  4. Andrew Freedman. "Carbon Dioxide Passes 400 PPM Milestone, NOAA Finds". www.climatecentral.org. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  5. UCL (2018-06-15). "Prof Bridget Wade". UCL Earth Sciences. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  6. Frazin, Rachel (2020-09-30). "Greenland ice sheet will melt at fastest rate in 12,000 years this century". TheHill. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  7. "Planktonic Foraminifera | Paleogene.org". Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  8. "Medal and Award Winners List | The Palaeontological Association". www.palass.org. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  9. "Awards and Grants". The Micropalaeontological Society. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  10. "The Geological Society of London - Wollaston Fund". www.geolsoc.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  11. "ECORD Distinguished Lecturer Programme". ECORD: European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  12. "An introduction to planktonic foraminifera", Biostratigraphic and Geological Significance of Planktonic Foraminifera, UCL Press, pp. 1–28, 2015-10-02, doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g69xwk.4, ISBN 978-1-910634-26-4, retrieved 2020-12-30
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