Research Interests
My research looks at Late Holocene climate variability, including the Little Ice Age (LIA, 1550-1850 AD) and the Medieval Warm Period (MWP, 900-1300 AD) that are characterized by contrasting hydrologic and thermal regimes. The degree of interaction between the North American continent and the ocean during these two abrupt climate events is not well known. Marine sedimentary records from basins proximal to major rivers integrate climate signals across large spatial scales and can provide a coherent, high-resolution assessment of the oceanic and continental responses to changing climate and hydrologic conditions. The Pigmy Basin in the northern Gulf of Mexico is ideally situated to record inputs from the Mississippi River and to relate these inputs to changing hydrologic conditions over North America during the LIA and MWP due to the Intertropical Convergence Zone/Bermuda High seasonal migration. Warm, moist air masses from the south interact with cold/dry air masses from the north over the North American continent to produce storm fronts. Prolonged northern position of the ITCZ would lead to warm/moist air masses dominating over the North American continent and greatly enhancing precipitation and subsequent Mississippi River discharge. I am utilizing molecular organic and inorganic geochemical analyses from a dated sediment core to evaluate climate controls on Mississippi River discharge during the Late Holocene. Specifically, I am looking at the weight percent of insoluble residues (100-%TOC-%CaCO3) and long-chain n-alkanes as indicators of terrestrial inputs from the Mississippi River, alkenones to reconstruct SST, and species-specific sterols to look at ecosystem assemblages.

Publications & Presentations

Flannery, J.A., J.N. Richey, A.N. Meckler, D.J. Hollander. A 1400 Year Multi-Proxy Record of Hydrologic Variability in the Gulf of Mexico: Exploring Ocean-Continent Linkages During the Late Holocene. Poster Presentation, 2008 ASLO Ocean Sciences Meeting *Received Outstanding Student Presentation Award (download PDF, 6.2 mb)

Flannery, J.A., J.N. Richey, A.N. Meckler, D.J. Hollander. A 1400 Year Multi-Proxy Record of Hydrologic Variability in the Gulf of Mexico: Exploring Ocean-Continent Linkages During the Late Holocene. Oral Presentation, 2007 AGU Fall Meeting

Flannery, J.A., J.N. Richey, A.N. Meckler, D.J. Hollander, R.Z. Poore, and B.P. Flower. Gulf of Mexico Moisture Balance Controls Hydrologic Variability on the North American Continent over the Past 1400 Years: A Geochemical Perspective. Poster Presentation, 2006 AGU Fall Meeting

Flannery, J.A.,  H.W. Hill, R.Z. Poore, and D.J. Hollander. Increasing Mississippi Discharge During Both the Little Ice Age and Medieval Warm Period: A Gulf of Mexico Perspective on Hydrologic Variability Over North America. Poster Presentation, 2006 HOLIVAR Open Science Meeting, London

Flannery, J.A., H.W. Hill, R.Z. Poore, and D.J. Hollander. Increasing Mississippi Discharge During Both the Little Ice Age and Medieval Warm Period: A Gulf of Mexico Perspective on Climate Variability Over North America. Poster Presentation, 2005 AGU Fall Meeting