Robert F. Anderson

About

Dr. Robert F. Anderson is an Ewing Lamont Research Professor in Geochemistry at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Washington in 1975 with a double major in chemistry and oceanography, and earned his PhD in Chemical Oceanography from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in 1981. Since then, he has been affiliated with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, where he has advanced through various roles, including serving as Associate Director and overseeing the construction of the Comer building for the Geochemistry Division. His research focuses on the marine biogeochemical cycles of trace elements and isotopes, utilizing naturally occurring radionuclides to quantify rates of oceanic processes. Anderson has played a key role in international programs such as GEOSECS and GEOTRACES, which study ocean chemistry at a global scale and investigate the delivery and removal of trace elements, as well as their role as proxies for past ocean conditions. His work has contributed significantly to understanding ocean circulation, the carbon cycle, and paleoclimate, especially in relation to glacial-interglacial cycles and the Southern Ocean's role in climate regulation. Anderson has received numerous honors, including the C. C. Patterson Medal and fellowship in the Geochemical…

Research topics

• Geology
• Oceanography
• Paleontology
• Geochemistry
• Climatology
• Environmental chemistry
• Chemistry
• Mineralogy
• Environmental science

Selected publications

• The Transpolar Drift as a Source of Riverine and Shelf‐Derived Trace Elements to the Central Arctic Ocean

  Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans · 2020 · 164 citations

  Abstract A major surface circulation feature of the Arctic Ocean is the Transpolar Drift (TPD), a current that transports river‐influenced shelf water from the Laptev and East Siberian Seas toward the center of the basin and Fram Strait. In 2015, the international GEOTRACES program included a high‐resolution pan‐Arctic survey of carbon, nutrients, and a suite of trace elements and isotopes (TEIs). The cruises bisected the TPD at two locations in the central basin, which were defined by maxima in…

  DOI

• Poleward and weakened westerlies during Pliocene warmth

  Nature · 2021 · 146 citations

  DOI

• Global Ocean Sediment Composition and Burial Flux in the Deep Sea

  Global Biogeochemical Cycles · 2021 · 138 citations

  Abstract Quantitative knowledge about the burial of sedimentary components at the seafloor has wide‐ranging implications in ocean science, from global climate to continental weathering. The use of 230 Th‐normalized fluxes reduces uncertainties that many prior studies faced by accounting for the effects of sediment redistribution by bottom currents and minimizing the impact of age model uncertainty. Here we employ a recently compiled global data set of 230 Th‐normalized fluxes with an updated dat…

  DOI

• ²³⁰Th Normalization: New Insights on an Essential Tool for Quantifying Sedimentary Fluxes in the Modern and Quaternary Ocean

  Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology · 2020 · 109 citations

  Abstract 230 Th normalization is a valuable paleoceanographic tool for reconstructing high‐resolution sediment fluxes during the late Pleistocene (last ~500,000 years). As its application has expanded to ever more diverse marine environments, the nuances of 230 Th systematics, with regard to particle type, particle size, lateral advective/diffusive redistribution, and other processes, have emerged. We synthesized over 1000 sedimentary records of 230 Th from across the global ocean at two time sl…

  DOI

• Millennial atmospheric CO2 changes linked to ocean ventilation modes over past 150,000 years

  Nature Geoscience · 2023-10-26 · 29 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Ice core measurements show diverse atmospheric CO 2 variations—increasing, decreasing or remaining stable—during millennial-scale North Atlantic cold periods called stadials. The reasons for these contrasting trends remain elusive. Ventilation of carbon-rich deep oceans can profoundly affect atmospheric CO 2 , but its millennial-scale history is poorly constrained. Here we present a well-dated high-resolution deep Atlantic acidity record over the past 150,000 years, which reveals five h…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Changes in Ocean Circulation, Productivity & Carbon Cycle during Heinrich Events

  NSF · $291k · 2006–2010

• Collaborative Research: U.S. GEOTRACES Pacific Section: Analysis of 230Th, 232Th and 231Pa

  NSF · $690k · 2013–2017

• Support for the U. S. GEOTRACES Project Office

  NSF · $990k · 2011–2016

Frequent coauthors

• Martin Q. Fleisher

  Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

  229 shared

• Gisela Winckler

  Columbia University

  193 shared

• Frank J. Pavia

  103 shared

• Christopher T. Hayes

  99 shared

• Jerry F McManus

  Columbia University

  71 shared

• Samuel L. Jaccard

  University of Lausanne

  61 shared

• Sascha Serno

  61 shared

• Zanna Chase

  University of Tasmania

  56 shared

Education

• PhD, Chemistry

  Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

  1981

Awards & honors

• 2015 Ludwick Lecture, Old Dominion University
• 2014 Inducted as fellow of the Geochemical Society
• 2010 C. C. Patterson Medal, Geochemical Society (environment…
• 2010 Sverdrup Lecture, Ocean Sciences Section of the America…
• 2005 A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in the Marine Scienc…

Similar researchers at Columbia University

• Robin Bellh-68
• O. Roger Andersonh-57
• Viviana Acquavivah-42