Antje Helga Luise Voelker

As a paleoceanographer, also working a bit in chemical oceanography, I am studying stable isotope data (O, C, H) analyzed in foraminiferal carbonate shells or present-day sea water samples, as well as the planktonic foraminifer fauna itself for (micro-)ecosystem changes and biostratigraphy. Through collaborations I am also working -or have- with many other paleoclimate data types and archives. Currently, my research focuses on understanding centennial-to-orbital scale climate variations (abrupt climate change during glacials/ climate transitions; interglacial variability) and their impact on the thermohaline circulation (surface, intermediate, deep water). With my students and colleagues, I am working on time intervals ranging from the recent past to the middle to early Pleistocene (300-1900 ka/ 0.3-1.9 Ma) and the Pliocene (3.5 – 4.6 Ma), on sediment records from polar to subtropical regions. I am currently also co-leading SCOR working group 171:

https://scor-int.org/group/towards-best-practices-for-measuring-and-archiving-stable-isotopes-in-seawater-masis/

Membro dos projetos

Planulina ariminensis from the Gulf of Cadiz

How salty was the Mediterranean Outflow Water?

HowMow

Exploração do potencial dos EERs como indicadores de produtividade em foraminíferos planctónicos ao longo da costa oeste da Margem Ibérica

ExploRaRE

Warm Worlds: Features and lessons from Past Interglacials “warm periods” during the last 1.5 Ma

Warm Worlds

Selected publications of the last 5 years:

Bajo, P., Drysdale, R.N., Woodhead, J.D., Hellstrom, J.C., Hodell, D., Ferretti, P., Voelker, A.H.L., Zanchetta, G., Rodrigues, T., Wolff, E., Tyler, J., Frisia, S., Spötl, C., Fallick, A.E., 2020. Persistent influence of obliquity on ice age terminations since the Middle Pleistocene transition. Science 367, 1235-1239, doi: 10.1126/science.aaw1114.

Mega, A., Rodrigues, T., Salgueiro, E., Padilha, M., Kuhnert, H., Voelker, A.H.L., 2025. The Early–Middle Pleistocene Transition in the Gulf of Cadiz (NE Atlantic) – an interplay between subtropical gyre and extremely cold surface waters. Clim. Past 21, doi: 10.5194/cp-21-919-2025.

Voelker, A.H.L., Rodrigues, T., Trotta, S., Marino, M., Kuhnert, H., 2022. A Southern Portuguese Margin Perspective of Marine Isotope Stage 47 – An Interglacial in the 41 kyr World. Atmosphere 13, 1378, doi: 10.3390/atmos13091378.

Voelker, A.H.L., Ducassou, E., Balestra, B., Flores, J.A., Acton, G.D., Richter, C., Xuan, C., Lofi, J., Alberto, A., Kuhnert, H., Alvarez Zarikian, C.A., 2026. Early Pleistocene (1.94–1.46 Ma) records for the upper Mediterranean Outflow Water branch reveal low and high latitude climate influences. Marine Geology 492, 107697, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2025.107697.

Naafs, B.D.A., Voelker, A.H.L., Karas, C., Andersen, N., Sierro, F.J., 2020. Repeated Near-Collapse of the Pliocene Sea Surface Temperature Gradient in the North Atlantic. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 35, e2020PA003905, doi: 10.1029/2020PA003905.

Cavaleiro, C., Voelker, A.H.L., Stoll, H., Baumann, K.H., Kucera, M., 2020. Coccolithophore productivity at the western Iberian Margin during the Middle Pleistocene (310–455 ka) – evidence from coccolith Sr∕Ca data. Clim. Past 16,doi: 10.5194/cp-16-2017-2020.

Kaboth-Bahr, S., Bahr, A., Blaser, P., Voelker, A.H.L., Lippold, J., Gutjahr, M., Hodell, D.A., Channell, J.E.T., de Vernal, A., Hillaire-Marcel, C., 2025. Reconstruction of deep-water undercurrent variability from the outer Labrador Sea during the past 550,000 years. Quaternary Science Advances, 100266, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.qsa.2025.100266.

Pedro, J.B., Andersson, C., Vettoretti, G., Voelker, A.H.L., Waelbroeck, C., Dokken, T.M., Jensen, M.F., Rasmussen, S.O., Sessford, E.G., Jochum, M., Nisancioglu, K.H., 2022. Dansgaard-Oeschger and Heinrich event temperature anomalies in the North Atlantic set by sea ice, frontal position and thermocline structure. Quaternary Science Reviews 289, 107599, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107599.

Rufino, M.M., Salgueiro, E., Voelker, A.A.H.L., Polito, P.S., Cermeño, P.A., Abrantes, F., 2022. Ocean kinetic energy and photosynthetic biomass are important drivers of planktonic foraminifera diversity in the Atlantic Ocean. Frontiers in Marine Science 9, doi: 10.3389/fmars.2022.887346.

Reverdin, G., Waelbroeck, C., Voelker, A., Meyer, H., 2024. Technical note: Large offsets between different datasets of sea water isotopic composition: an illustration of the need to reinforce intercalibration efforts. EGUsphere 2024, 1-17, doi: 10.5194/egusphere-2024-3009.