Denise Kulhanek

"As a marine micropaleontologist and paleoceanographer, I explore the environmental conditions of the past. I use marine microfossils to study their evolution in interaction with the Earth's climate. Along these surviving microfossils are many species of single-celled phytoplankton, the carbonate of which has been preserved in the sediment of the seabed. The work we are doing in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica is particularly close to my heart. In my research, I evaluate data from sediment cores to understand past changes in ocean conditions and the expansion of the ice sheet in Western Antarctica. The results of this research are incorporated in climate modelling and help us to make better predictions about future ice loss as a result of man-made climate change."