Jessica Moerman

close up photo of Jessica Moerman smiling

Dr. Jessica Moerman uses geologic archives, such as cave stalagmites, lake sediments, and soil deposits, to investigate Earth’s past climate history. Her work specifically seeks to put present climate change in context with past climatic and environmental variability, with specific focus on the tropical water cycle, drought, and precipitation variability. Jessica has led multiple research expeditions to the tropical caves of Borneo and rift valleys of Kenya. As a member of the Human Origins Program’s Olorgesailie Drilling Project and Smithsonian Stable Isotope Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Jessica investigates how changes in water balance and vegetation in the southern Kenya rift over the past 500,000 years influenced human evolution and behavior.

Potts, R., Dommain, R., Moerman, J.W., Behrensmeyer, A. K., Deino, A.L., Riedl, S., Beverly, E.J., Brown, E.T., Deocampo, D., Kinyanjui, R., Lupien, R., Owen, R.B., Rabideaux, R., Russell, J.M., Stockhecke, M., deMenocal, P.,  Faith, J.T., Garcin, Y., Noren, A., Scott, J.J., Western, D., Bright, J., Clark, J.B., Cohen, A.S., Keller, C.B., King, J., Levin, N.E., Brady Shannon, K., Muiruri, V., Renaut, R.W., Rucina, S.M., Uno, K., 2020. Increased ecological resource variability during a critical transition in hominin evolution. Science Advances, vol. 6, eabc8975. https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/43/eabc8975 

J.L. Conroy, Noone, D., Cobb, K.M., Moerman, J.W., Konecky, B.L. Paired precipitation-vapor isotopes define the amount effect in western tropical Pacific storms. (2016) J. Geophysical Research – Atmospheres. 121, 3290-3303.

S.A., Carolin, Cobb, K.M., Lynch-Stieglitz, J., Moerman, J.W., Lejau, S., Malang, J., Clark, B., Tuen, A.A., Adkins, J.F. (2016) Rainfall variability across MIS 5 and 6 revealed in northern Borneo stalagmite records. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 439. 182-193.

A.N. Meckler, Affolter, S., Dublyansky, Y., Krüger, Y., Vogel, N., Adkins, J., Bernasconi, S., Carolin, S., Cobb, K., Frenz, M., Kipfer, R., Leuenberger, M., Moerman, J.W., Spötl, C., Fleitmann, D. (2015) Glacial-interglacial temperature change in the tropical West Pacific: A comparison of stalagmite-based paleo-thermometers. Quaternary Science Reviews. 127. 90-116.

J.W. Moerman, Cobb, K.M., Partin, J.W., Meckler, A.N., Carolin, S.A., Adkins, J.F., Malang, J., Lejau, S., Clark, B., Tuen, A.A. (2014) Transformation of ENSO-related rainwater to dripwater δ18O variability by vadose water mixing. Geophysical Research Letters. 41. 7907–7915.

J.W. Moerman, Cobb, K.M., Adkins, J.F., Sodemann, H., Clark, B., Tuen, A.A. (2013) Diurnal to interannual rainfall δ18O variations in northern Borneo driven by regional hydrology. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 369-370, 108-119.

J.W. Moerman & G.E. Potts (2011) Analysis of metals leached from smoked cigarette litter. Tobacco Control. 20, Supp. 1, i30-i35.