My research focuses on the role of ocean circulation in past global climate change. I am particularly interested in sedimentary records of Earth's changing environment and biota, on time frames ranging from the early Cenozoic to the present. I use ocean sediment cores (including Ocean Drilling Program cores, IMAGES piston cores, and short box cores) to examine major changes in the evolution of the ocean/climate system. One of the most valuable tools for elucidating past climate change from sediment cores is the measurement of oxygen and carbon isotopes in foraminifera by mass spectrometry. Mg/Ca paleothermometry is a relatively new technique I use to isolate the temperature component of the oxygen isotopic composition of foraminifera and calculate the oxygen isotopic composition of seawater, which is controlled by ice volume and salinity. This multi-proxy approach allows investigation into the phasing of climatic and hydrologic changes, and into what causes regional to global climate change.

Current projects include:

Holocene climate variability in the Gulf of Mexico
Laurentide Ice Sheet meltwater input to the Gulf of Mexico during the last glacial cycle
Oligocene to Miocene cyclostratigraphy and paleoceanography of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
Climatic and hydrologic variability in Tampa Bay since the last glacial maximum

Courses

Paleoceanography
Global Climate Change: Past and Future
Marine Stratigraphy
Stable Isotopes in Marine Science
Field Methods in Marine Biogeochemistry

Selected Publications

Meckler, A.N., Schubert, C.J., Hochuli, P.A., Plessen, B., Birgel, D., Flower, B.P., Hinrichs, K.-U., and Haug, G.H., 2008, Glacial to Holocene terrigenous organic matter input to sediments from Orca Basin, Gulf of Mexico – a combined optical and biomarker approach, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 272: 251-263; doi: 10 .1016/j.epsl.2008.04.046.

Rashid, H. Flower, B.P., Poore, R.Z., and Quinn, T.M., 2007, A ~25 ka Indian Ocean monsoon variability record from the Andaman Sea, Quaternary Science Reviews. vol 26: 2586-2597. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2007.07.002.

Rashid, H. Flower, B.P., Poore, R.Z., and Quinn, T.M., in press, A ~25 ka Indian Ocean monsoon variability record from the Andaman Sea, Quaternary Science Reviews.

Richey, J.M., Poore, R.Z., Flower, B.P., and Quinn, T.M., 2007, A 1400 year multiproxy record of climate variability from the northern Gulf of Mexico, Geology, vol. 35 (5): 423-426.

Cronin, T., Edgar, N.T., Brooks, G., Hastings, D., Larson, R., Hine, A., Locker, S.D., Suthard B., Flower, B., Hollander, D., Wehmiller, J., Willard, D., and Smith, S., 2007, Sea level rise in Tampa Bay, EOS, vol. 88, No. 10. 117-118.

LoDico, J.M., Flower, B.P., and Quinn, T.M., 2006, Subcentennial-scale climatic and hydrologic variability in the Gulf of Mexico during the early Holocene, Paleoceanography, 21, PA3015, doi:10.1029/2005PA00124

Flower, B.P., and Chisholm, K.E., 2006. Magnetostratigraphic calibration of the late Oligocene climate transition. In Tiedemann, R., Mix, A.C., Richter, C., and Ruddiman, W.F. (Eds.), Proc. ODP, Sci. Results, 202 [Online].

Hill, H.W., Flower, B.P., Quinn, T.M., Hollander, D.J., and Guilderson, T.P., 2006, Laurentide Ice Sheet meltwater and abrupt climate change during the last glaciation, Paleoceanography, 21, PA1006, doi:10.1029/2005PA001186.

Flower, B.P., Hastings, D.W., Hill, H.W., and Quinn, T.M., 2004. Phasing of deglacial warming and Laurentide ice sheet meltwater in the Gulf of Mexico, Geology, 32, 597-600.

Raymo, M.E., Oppo, D.W., Flower, B.P., Hodell, D.A., McManus, J., Venz, K.A., Kleiven, K.F., McIntyre, K., 2004. Stability of North Atlantic water masses in face of pronounced natural climate variability, Paleoceanography, 19, PA2008, doi:10.1029/2003PA000921.

Channell, J.E.T., Curtis, J.H., and Flower, B.P., 2004. The Matuyama-Brunhes Boundary Interval (500-900 ka) in North Atlantic Drift Sediments, Geophysical Journal International, 158, 489-505.

Mallinson, D.J., Flower, B.P., Hine, A.C., Brooks, G., Garza, R.M., 2003. Paleoclimate implications of High Latitude Precession-Scale Mineralogic Fluctuations During Early Oligocene Antarctic Glaciation: The Great Australian Bight record, Global and Planetary Change, 39, 257-269.

Wright, A.K., and Flower, B.P., 2002. Surface and Deep Ocean Circulation in the Subpolar North Atlantic During the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution, Paleoceanography, 17, 1068, doi: 10.1029/2002PA000782.

Zachos, J.C., Shackleton, N.J., Revenaugh, J., Palike, H., and Flower, B.P., 2001. Climate Response to Orbital Forcing Across the Oligocene-Miocene Boundary, Science, 292, 274-278.

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