Dr Paola Moffa-Sanchez

Contact Dr Paola Moffa-Sanchez (email at paola.l.moffa-sanchez@durham.ac.uk)

Research Interests

My research interests lie in understanding decadal to millennial scale ocean variability and its relationship to climate over the recent past, including the last millennia, the current interglacial, and last deglaciation. To reconstruct these ocean changes I use proxies such as faunal and geochemical analysis in foraminifera, grain size measurements, and chemical sediment composition on high-resolution marine sediment cores. So far, my work has been centered around key oceanographic regions such as the North Atlantic and the Western Tropical Pacific. My research can be grouped into three main themes:

• Extending ocean observations back in time using proxies
• The study of the ocean changes across the last millennia: The key to understanding natural climate variability
• Interglacial climates and their onset

Research Groups

Department of Geography

• Sea Level, Ice and Climate

Selected Publications

Journal Article

• Kaufman, Darrell, McKay, Nicholas, Routson, Cody, Erb, Michael, Davis, Basil, Heiri, Oliver, Jaccard, Samuel, Tierney, Jessica, Dätwyler, Christoph, Axford, Yarrow, Brussel, Thomas, Cartapanis, Olivier, Chase, Brian, Dawson, Andria, de Vernal, Anne, Engels, Stefan, Jonkers, Lukas, Marsicek, Jeremiah, Moffa-Sánchez, Paola, Morrill, Carrie, Orsi, Anais, Rehfeld, Kira, Saunders, Krystyna, Sommer, Philipp S., Thomas, Elizabeth, Tonello, Marcela, Tóth, Mónika, Vachula, Richard, Andreev, Andrei, Bertrand, Sebastien, Biskaborn, Boris, Bringué, Manuel, Brooks, Stephen, Caniupán, Magaly, Chevalier, Manuel, Cwynar, Les, Emile-Geay, Julien, Fegyveresi, John, Feurdean, Angelica, Finsinger, Walter, Fortin, Marie-Claude, Foster, Louise, Fox, Mathew, Gajewski, Konrad, Grosjean, Martin, Hausmann, Sonja, Heinrichs, Markus, Holmes, Naomi, Ilyashuk, Boris, Ilyashuk, Elena, Juggins, Steve, Khider, Deborah, Koinig, Karin, Langdon, Peter, Larocque-Tobler, Isabelle, Li, Jianyong, Lotter, André, Luoto, Tomi, Mackay, Anson, Magyari, Eniko, Malevich, Steven, Mark, Bryan, Massaferro, Julieta, Montade, Vincent, Nazarova, Larisa, Novenko, Elena, Pařil, Petr, Pearson, Emma, Peros, Matthew, Pienitz, Reinhard, Płóciennik, Mateusz, Porinchu, David, Potito, Aaron, Rees, Andrew, Reinemann, Scott, Roberts, Stephen, Rolland, Nicolas, Salonen, Sakari, Self, Angela, Seppä, Heikki, Shala, Shyhrete, St-Jacques, Jeannine-Marie, Stenni, Barbara, Syrykh, Liudmila, Tarrats, Pol, Taylor, Karen, van den Bos, Valerie, Velle, Gaute, Wahl, Eugene, Walker, Ian, Wilmshurst, Janet, Zhang, Enlou & Zhilich, Snezhana (2020). A global database of Holocene paleotemperature records. Scientific Data 7(1): 115.
• Hernández, Armand, Martin-Puertas, Celia, Moffa-Sánchez, Paola, Moreno-Chamarro, Eduardo, Ortega, Pablo, Blockley, Simon, Cobb, Kim M., Comas-Bru, Laia, Giralt, Santiago, Goosse, Hugues, Luterbacher, Jürg, Martrat, Belen, Muscheler, Raimund, Parnell, Andrew, Pla-Rabes, Sergi, Sjolte, Jesper, Scaife, Adam A., Swingedouw, Didier, Wise, Erika & Xu, Guobao (2020). Modes of climate variability: Synthesis and review of proxy-based reconstructions through the Holocene. Earth-Science Reviews 209: 103286.
• Moffa‐Sanchez, Paola, Rosenthal, Yair, Babila, Tali L., Mohtadi, Mahyar & Zhang, Xu (2019). Temperature evolution of the Indo‐Pacific Warm Pool over the Holocene and the last deglaciation. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 34(7): 1107-1123.
• Moffa-Sánchez, P., Moreno-Chamarro, E., Reynolds, D.J., Ortega, P., Cunningham, L., Swingedouw, D., Amrhein, J., Halfar, J., Jonkers, L., Jungclaus, J.H., Perner, K., Wanamaker, A. & Yeager, S. (2019). Variability in the northern North Atlantic and Arctic oceans across the last two millennia: A review. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 34(8): 1399-1436.
• Thornalley, David J. R., Oppo, Delia W., Ortega, Pablo, Robson, Jon I., Brierley, Chris M., Davis, Renee, Hall, Ian R., Moffa-Sanchez, Paola, Rose, Neil L., Spooner, Peter T., Yashayaev, Igor & Keigwin, Lloyd D. (2018). Anomalously weak Labrador Sea convection and Atlantic overturning during the past 150 years. Nature 556(7700): 227-230.
• Servera-Vives, Gabriel, Riera, Santiago, Picornell-Gelabert, Llorenç, Moffa-Sánchez, Paola, Llergo, Yolanda, Garcia, Arnau, Mus-Amezquita, Maurici, García Álvarez, Salvia & Calvo Trías, Manuel (2018). The onset of islandscapes in the Balearic Islands: A study-case of Addaia (northern Minorca, Spain). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 498: 9.
• Hollstein, Martina, Mohtadi, Mahyar, Rosenthal, Yair, Prange, Matthias, Oppo, Delia W., Martínez Méndez, Gema, Tachikawa, Kazuyo, Moffa Sanchez, Paola, Steinke, Stephan & Hebbeln, Dierk (2018). Variations in Western Pacific Warm Pool surface and thermocline conditions over the past 110,000 years: Forcing mechanisms and implications for the glacial Walker circulation. Quaternary Science Reviews 201: 429.
• Ortega, Pablo, Robson, Jon, Moffa-Sanchez, Paola, Thornalley, David & Swingedouw, Didier (2017). A last millennium perspective on North Atlantic variability: exploiting synergies between models and proxy data. Past Global Changes Magazine 25(1): 61.
• Alonso-Garcia, Montserrat, Kleiven, Helga (Kikki) F., McManus, Jerry F., Moffa-Sanchez, Paola, Broecker, Wallace S. & Flower, Benjamin P. (2017). Freshening of the Labrador Sea as a trigger for Little Ice Age development. Climate of the Past 13(4): 317.
• Moffa-Sánchez, Paola & Hall, Ian R. (2017). North Atlantic variability and its links to European climate over the last 3000 years. Nature Communications 8(1): 1726.
• Hollstein, Martina, Mohtadi, Mahyar, Rosenthal, Yair, Moffa Sanchez, Paola, Oppo, Delia, Martínez Méndez, Gema, Steinke, Stephan & Hebbeln, Dierk (2017). Stable Oxygen Isotopes and Mg/Ca in Planktic Foraminifera From Modern Surface Sediments of the Western Pacific Warm Pool: Implications for Thermocline Reconstructions. Paleoceanography 32(11): 1174.
• Moffa-Sanchez, Paola, Hall, Ian R., Thornalley, David J.R., Barker, Stephen & Stewart, Connor (2015). Changes in the strength of the Nordic Seas Overflows over the past 3000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews 123: 134.
• Moffa-Sánchez, Paola, Born, Andreas, Hall, Ian R., Thornalley, David J. R. & Barker, Stephen (2014). Solar forcing of North Atlantic surface temperature and salinity over the past millennium. Nature Geoscience 7(4): 275-278.
• Moffa-Sánchez, Paola, Hall, Ian R., Barker, Stephen, Thornalley, David J. R. & Yashayaev, Igor (2014). Surface changes in the eastern Labrador Sea around the onset of the Little Ice Age. Paleoceanography 29(3): 160-175.

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