Matt Harris
PhD
Paleoclimatologist and Ice Core Scientist
Earth Sciences New Zealand
Early Career Researcher
Dr Matt Harris is a Paleoclimatologist, specialising in the analysis of ice cores. He uses the chemical impurities and stable isotopes preserved in past precipitation, alongside modern data products and computational methods, to document climate and environmental changes in the high-latitude Southern Hemisphere. Matt is working alongside other paleoenvironmental scientists to determine whether current sea-ice changes are due to natural variability or the presence of an underlying trend. To do this, he will be developing new pre-observational records of sea-ice cover for the Ross Sea region, providing critical data prior to the satellite era (late 1970s onwards). Reconstructions prior to the late 20th century are critical for contextualizing current observations of change and calibrating future projections.