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Madelyn J. Mette, Ph.D.

My research aims to understand the impacts and variability of North Atlantic surface currents and rapid climate changes of the recent past (Late Holocene). Trained in the methods of sclerochronology, I measure the physical and chemical properties within the shells of marine bivalves as proxies for past environmental variability.

I completed a B.A. in Geology at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, a Ph.D. in Geology (co-major in Environmental Science) at Iowa State University, and a postdoc at NORCE Norwegian Research Centre and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in Bergen, Norway. I joined the Corals and Paleoclimate research group at USGS in 2020 to contribute to the study of climate variability and ocean circulation through reconstruction of past environments, specializing in sclerochronological tools applied to bivalve mollusk proxy archives.

Professional Experience

  • 2020-present – Research Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg, FL

  • 2020 – Lecturer in Environmental Systems Science, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

  • 2018-2019 – Postdoctoral Scholar, NORCE Norwegian Research Centre, Bjerknes Center for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway

  • 2018 – Science Communications Intern, Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, Washington, D.C.

Education and Certifications

  • Ph.D., Geology, Environmental Science, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

  • B.A., Geology (Honors Thesis), Macalester College, St. Paul, MN

Science and Products

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Multicores onboard the research vessel Pelican

Climate and Environmental Change in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean

This project documents paleoceanographic, climatic, and environmental changes in the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent land areas over the last 10,000 years. The paleoenvironmental data is used to determine rates of change in the past, and to better understand both the natural and anthropogenic factors that contribute to climate variability on inter-annual to millennial timescales.
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Climate Research and Development Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Climate and Environmental Change in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean

This project documents paleoceanographic, climatic, and environmental changes in the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent land areas over the last 10,000 years. The paleoenvironmental data is used to determine rates of change in the past, and to better understand both the natural and anthropogenic factors that contribute to climate variability on inter-annual to millennial timescales.
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Fourteen shells are pictured with details about species name and collection locality.
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USGS staff holds up a piece of coral in front of a group of children at a table outside
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Three USGS staff at a table outside show a piece of a coral core to students
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Arctica islandica shells
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Two centuries of southwest Iceland annually-resolved marine temperature reconstructed from Arctica islandica shells

Iceland's exposure to major ocean current pathways of the central North Atlantic makes it a useful location for developing long-term proxy records of past marine climate. Such records provide more detailed understanding of the full range of past variability which is necessary to improve predictions of future changes. We constructed a 225-year (1791–2015 CE) master shell growth chronology from 29 s
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Madelyn Jean Mette, Carin Andersson, Bernd Schöne, Fabian Bonitz, Vilde Melvik, Tamara Trofimova, Martin Miles
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Growth portfolios buffer climate-linked environmental change in marine systems

Large-scale, climate-induced synchrony in the productivity of fish populations is becoming more pronounced in the world's oceans. As synchrony increases, a population's “portfolio” of responses can be diminished, in turn reducing its resilience to strong perturbation. Here we argue that the costs and benefits of trait synchronization, such as the expression of growth rate, are context dependent. C
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Steven Campana, Szymon Smolinski, Bryan Black, John Morrongiello, Sella Alexandroff, Carin Andersson, Bjarte Bogstad, Paul Butler, Come Denechaud, David C Frank, Audrey Geffen, Jane Aanestad, Peter Gronkjaer, Einar Hjorleifsson, Ingibjorg G. Jonsdottir, Mark Meekan, Madelyn Jean Mette, Susanne E. Tanner, Peter van der Sleen, Gotje von Leesen
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Climate Research and Development Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Atlantic circulation change still uncertain

Deep oceanic overturning circulation in the Atlantic (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)) is projected to decrease in the future in response to anthropogenic warming. Caesar et al.1 argue that an AMOC slowdown started in the nineteenth century and intensified during the mid-twentieth century. Although the argument and selected evidence proposed have some merits, we find that their
Authors
K. Halimeda Kilbourne, Alan D. Wanamaker, Paola Moffa-Sanchez, David J. Reynolds, Daniel E. Amrhein, Paul G. Butler, Marlos Goes, Malte Jansen, Christopher M. Little, Madelyn Jean Mette, Eduardo Moreno-Chamarro, Pablo Ortega, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Thomas Rossby, James Scourse, Nina M. Whitney
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Climate Research and Development Program, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Paleoclimatology and paleoceanography perspectives on integrated, coordinated, open, networked (ICON) science

This article is composed of three independent commentaries about the state of Integrated, Coordinated, Open, Networked (ICON) principles (Goldman et al., 2021, https://doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10508554.1) in the AGU section paleoclimatology and paleoceanography (P&P), and a discussion on the opportunities and challenges of adopting them. Each commentary focuses on a different topic: (Section 2) Glob
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A Belem, T Bell, H L Burdett, D Ibarra, N Kaushal, B Keenan, A Klimaszewski-Patterson, Madelyn Jean Mette, S Naeher, O D Onafeso, C Panmei, S Ratnayake, O Truax
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Climate Adaptation Science Centers, Climate Research and Development Program, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Persistent multidecadal variability since the 15th century in the southern Barents Sea derived from annually resolved shell-based records

In the North Atlantic Ocean, multidecadal variability in sea surface temperatures (SSTs) over the past several centuries has largely been inferred through terrestrial proxies and decadally resolved marine proxies. Annually resolved proxy records from marine archives provide valuable insight into this variability, but are especially rare from high latitude environments, particularly for centennial
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Madelyn Jean Mette, Alan D. Wanamaker, Michael J. Retelle, Michael L. Carroll, Carin Andersson, William G. Ambrose
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Climate Research and Development Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Friday's Findings - July 14 2023

Title: New Insight into Past Climate from Clamshell Proxy Records

Speaker: Madelyn J. Mette, Research Geologist, USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and...

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Dr. Madelyn Mette will present “New insight into past climate from clamshell proxy records” at public Friday’s Findings event

The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area hosts Friday’s Findings each week, with public presentations from scientists across the bureau. On Friday, July 14th...

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SPCMSC Research Geologist to deliver presentation at International Sclerochronology Conference

Dr. Madelyn Mette will moderate a scientific session and present recent work titled “Bridging the gap between corals and bivalves: Development of...

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SPCMSC Research Geologist publishes journal article describing a new multi-century record using clam shells as proxy for northern North Atlantic marine climate

USGS Research Geologist Madelyn Mette led a recent manuscript with coauthors in academia, titled “Persistent multidecadal variability since the 15th...

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