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Julie Richey, Ph.D.

Julie Richey is a Research Geologist at the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center.

Paleoclimate and Environmental Change

Establishing a baseline of natural climate variability over the past 2,000 years is essential to accurately predicting regional responses to anthropogenic climate change. My research focus is reconstructing temperature and hydroclimatic variability in the Gulf of Mexico/Subtropical Atlantic Ocean using a broad range of different paleoclimate archives. In addition to generating proxy-based paleoclimate records, I am working on proxy development and calibration studies to improve our ability to quantify past changes in temperature, salinity and precipitation in both terrestrial and marine environments.

Coral Paleoclimate

Research Interests

  • Using stable isotopes and trace elements to reconstruct climate from coral skeletons
  • Investigating the effect of water quality and coral ecology on geochemical proxies

Field Sites

  • US Virgin Islands
  • Dry Tortugas National Park
  • Florida Keys Reef Tract

Project web page: https://www.usgs.gov/centers/spcmsc/science/coral-reef-ecosystem-studies-crest

Holocene Paleoclimate in the Gulf of Mexico

Project web page: https://www.usgs.gov/centers/spcmsc/science/climate-and-environmental-change-gulf-mexico-and-caribbean

Research Interests

  • Paleoclimate Reconstruction from Marine and Lake Sediments
  • Coral Reefs as Climate Archives
  • Paleoceanographic Proxy Calibration

Field Sites

  • Garrison Basin (Gulf of Mexico)
  • Fisk Basin (Gulf of Mexico)
  • Pigmy Basin (Gulf of Mexico)
  • Sediment Trap Site (Gulf of Mexico)