Logan Brenner

Logan Brenner is a paleoclimatologist and professor at Barnard College. She first started studying the ocean in college and specifically focuses on studying coral to better understand past climates, which can be a predictor for future climates. She is a researcher at the P.E.A.R.L. Lab, and is working on a project studying the hydroclimate in Panama. 

Logan Brenner 

She/her

Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Science at Barnard College and Adjunct Associate Research Scientist at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory

Could you talk a bit about your interests in studying past oceans and the climate?

I never really thought about the ocean as being like a part of climate until college and until I was more into the geoscience major. In college, I was using paleo proxies to study stalagmites, which are cave formations that grow up from the ground. The basic premise of a paleo proxy is that you're using some indirect representation of climate to extrapolate and draw conclusions about the past (hundreds or thousands of years ago). People didn't have thermometers 10,000 years ago, so we needed other ways to learn about the temperature. The geochemical composition of organisms and abiotic things often reflects the climate that they're growing in. I was still very interested in the water, so I wanted to combine my new knowledge of how to study the paleoclimate with studying the ocean. And that's where grad school came in. I began studying the climate by studying the geochemical composition of corals. When I tell people that I study corals, they often kind of think about conservation, or preventing [coral] bleaching and disease, which is incredibly important. I actually use corals more as a tool. I measure the geochemical composition of corals, such as the amounts of metals in the skeleton, or the stable isotopic composition, and all of those things vary depending on how warm or how cold the water is, how salty it is, what the currents were like. 

What does studying the ocean tell us about the changing climate and what are the patterns you've seen in your research?

The ocean is important for a lot of reasons, with one being that it's a major buffer of climate change, so that it can actually help mitigate the rise in temperature by absorbing CO2, but it can't do it indefinitely without there being some types of consequences. So eventually the ocean will reach its CO2 capacity, and many organisms that are pH sensitive will be impacted. When people think about the ocean and climate change, they often think about sea level rise, melting ice and increasing temperatures. We think about day to day the temperature changes 10 degrees and we're fine, but [one to two degrees global warming] can be pretty catastrophic. It can be challenging to get people to think about the ocean if they don't live near it. So it's important to educate folks about how it fits into the climate system as a whole, and how what's happening in the ocean actually impacts you.

I saw you’re working on a project at the Pearl Lab on evaluating hydroclimate via coral geochemistry (metals and stable isotopes) in the Gulf of Chiriqui, Panama. Could you talk about your findings so far?

It's a collaborative project with my colleague here at Lamont. The goal is to develop long-term records of hydroclimate, specifically river discharge. We're trying to understand how active the rivers are and that has implications for things like potable water storage, or if there have been droughts or flooding, and how that might be related to El Nino events. 

So what we've been doing is measuring the amount of barium in the coral skeleton. Coral skeletons are made of calcium carbonate, but depending on the conditions that the corals grow in, it can sometimes substitute other metals and for the calcium, other metals that look similar, like have the same shape and charge. And so instead of taking in the calcium, it sometimes takes in barium by mistake. What we found is that when there's more river discharge in the area, there's going to be more barium in the ocean water, and therefore more barium in the coral. When we see more barium, there is more river flow. When we see less barium, we'll say, there's less river flow. It's really important to understand the hydroclimate in a place like Panama because the region is heavily reliant on hydroelectricity. Of course, tourism is important to the economy, and extended periods of drought or flooding can be detrimental. Also the Panama Canal is very important to global trade, [and is impacted by water levels since it’s maintained by a lock system]. So that's another reason it's really important to study how the hydroclimate has been changing. And one of the foundational reasons for studying not only paleo-hydroclimate, but paleoclimate in general, is understanding what the variability has been in the past in order to better inform our present and future predictions. 

Have you worked on any projects that are more a reflection of the anthropogenic nature of climate change?

What we can see in some of these records, there are times that the corals have bleached. It's hard to necessarily say this bleaching event is because of human-driven climate change. I think a lot of us are confident in saying that El Ninos could become more and more intense, and El Nino events often lead to bleaching in this region. So it's a bit like a transitive property to get there. So that's the way that we see human-driven influence.

What's a favorite thing about what you do, and what are any challenges you come across in your work?

It’s like solving a mystery, which can be daunting, because there's not an answer. It's not like when you're taking a test and there's a right answer. You don't necessarily know the end point. When have I done enough? When have I finished this project? It's cool to be involved in answering these big picture questions. It's like environmental forensics, essentially, not as exciting as Law & Order, but it kind of has a similar vibe. 

Sometimes some of the things that I like can also be some of the big challenges. So, studying those big-picture questions and things that feel a little esoteric: like, who really cares about the climate 20,000 years ago when there's so many terrible things happening right now? Sometimes I have to re situate myself and think about why I'm feeling that way. Like, is my work important? Is it applied enough? And it’s either, “yes, it is” and keep going. Or if I say, maybe it's not, how can I address that? That's why I like teaching. I feel like teaching is my way that I can educate people about what's going on. 

What are the skills someone needs to be a paleoclimatologist? 

Being creative and critical are really important. Having an open mind and being willing to sit with the uncertainty of things. And I mean that in a few ways. Every measurement has uncertainty, so how do you deal with the uncertainty without being dishonest, making sure you're reporting that range? Also, just uncertainty of what is the next step. Also, surround yourself with good people who you connect with and can bounce ideas off of. I think also for science, being able to communicate is important.  

What is your advice for people who might want to get involved or break into the industry? 

It's figuring out how you can get research experiences or internships that maybe give you some more background and more hands-on experience. If you don't have the typical preparation, it is kind of a lot of hustling and reaching out personally with emails to see if someone's willing to take a chance on you. There are other things that people can do informally, like getting involved with science outreach and working with kids, and volunteering at a museum. 

I wouldn't be the one that says no to yourself. So like, if you see something out there that interests you, I wouldn't say, “No, I'm not qualified.” I would let someone else make that decision. I would never be afraid to reach out to people and talk to them, because you never know what you're going to learn. You never know what opportunities they have for you.

What's one thing that scares you about the climate crisis?

Things have been kind of up in the air the past few weeks with grant funding. It's hard not to feel a little bit down about that, honestly. So when you're asking questions about how you get involved and your next project, I'm trying to figure all this out, too. The scariest thing for me is not necessarily what's going to happen, but that a lot of people don't seem to care, or don't seem to care enough to do anything about it. 

Logan sawing a coral in preparation for analysis.