Success through ARC

	The Micropalaeontological Record of Climate Change in the Central Arctic Ocean over the last 15 million years

The first scientific drilling of marine sediments of the Central Arctic Ocean to provide a long-term record for climatic and oceanographic change. Dr Kaminski and Dr Matthiessen proposed to study the microfossils (Foraminifera and dinoflagellate cysts) from the recovered sediment cores to study the evolution of oceanic environments over the last 15 million years and the response of the biota to global climatic change. The project lasted from June 2004 until June 2006.

Dr Kaminski and Dr Matthiessen publicised their findings together with their colleagues in the "Nature" Magazine in June 2006. Click on the link on the left-hand side to download the article - it made the cover story!

The Scientists:

Mike Kaminski was born in July 1957 and studied geology in USA and Krakow as well as Oceanography at the MIT. He also has a B.A. for Slavic Studies from Rutgers University, New Jersey/USA.

He started his academic career as a Museum Assistant at Rutgers University Geology Museum in 1977, worked as micropaleontological consultant, then as lecturer as well as active researcher and member of different Editorial Boards. Presently he is a reader in Micropaleontolgy at the University College of London.

Jens Matthiessen was born in Kiel; after finishing school he studied Geology at the Christian-Albrecht-University of Kiel, where he completed his PhD, too. After his PhD he worked for a number of years in Kiel, and then went to France to the University of Bordeaux.

1996 he returned to Germany to work as Research Associate at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven.