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Dr. Delia Oppo

Senior Scientist
Paleoceanographer
Geology & Geophysics Department

Contact Information:
Work: 508-289-2681
doppo@whoi.edu
Building: Clark 117

Mailing Address:
266 Woods Hole Road, MS #23
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA 02543

Research Interests

I study past variability of ocean circulation and the climatic impacts of those changes. My projects include reconstructing ocean circulation during the last Ice Age, during abrupt climate events that occurred as the large Ice Age continental ice sheets collapsed, and during the last 10,000 years in the absence of large ice sheets. With my many collaborators, I also research how these ocean circulation changes and other factors influence tropical rainfall and vegetation.

Congrats to Wanyi Lu on her latest publication:

Lu, W., Guo, W., & Oppo, D. W. (2024). Assessing the precision and accuracy of foraminifera elemental analysis at low ratios. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 25, e2024GC011560. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GC011560

Congrats to Jack Wharton on his recent publication:

Wharton, J., Renoult, G. Gebbie, L. D. Keigwin, T. M. Marchitto, M. A. Maslin, D. W. Oppo, D. J. R. Thornalley (2024) Stronger and Deeper North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre During the Last Glacial Maximum. Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07655-y

Other Select Recent Publications:

  • Shub, A., D. Lund, D. Oppo, and M. Garity (2024), Brazil Margin stable isotope profiles for the last glacial cycle: Implications for watermass geometry and oceanic carbon storage, Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 39, e2023PA004635. https://doi. org/10.1029/2023PA004635
  • Lu W., D. W. Oppo, G. Gebbie, D. J. R. Thornalley (2023), Surface climate signals transmitted rapidly to deep North Atlantic throughout last millennium, Science, 382,  834-839 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adf1646.
  • Oppo, D. W., Lu, W., Huang, K.-F., Umling, N. E., Guo, W., Yu, J., et al. (2023). Deglacial temperature and carbonate saturation state variability in the tropical Atlantic at Antarctic Intermediate Water depths. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 38, e2023PA004674. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023PA004674
  • Galochkina, M., Cohen, A. L., Oppo, D. W., Mollica, N., & Horton, F. (2023). Coral Sr-U thermometry tracks ocean temperature and reconciles Sr/Ca discrepancies caused by Rayleigh fractionation. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 38, e2022PA004541. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022PA004541
  • Wang, S., Ummenhofer, C. C., Oppo, D. W., Murty, S. A., Wagner, P., Böning, C. W., & Biastoch, A. (2023). Freshwater contributions to decadal variability of the Indonesian Throughflow. Geophysical Research Letters, 50, e2023GL103906. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL103906
  • Lu, W., Costa, K. M., & Oppo, D. W. (2023). Reconstructing the oxygen depth profile in the Arabian Sea during the last glacial period. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 38, e2023PA004632. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023PA004632
  • Costa K., S. G. Nielsen, Y. Wang, W. Lu. S. K. V. Hines, A. Jacobel, D. W. Oppo (2023). Marine sedimentary uranium to barium ratios as a potential quantitative proxy for Pleistocene bottom water oxygen concentrations Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 343, 1-16, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2022.12.022.
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Education

Ph.D.: Geology. 1989. Columbia University, New York, NY.

B.S.: Mathematics. 1981. State University of New York at Albany

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