2024-2025: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology: Aradhna Tripati

Aradhna Tripati 
UCLA

Biography 

Dr. Aradhna Tripati is a Professor at UCLA in the geosciences who is part of the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences; the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences; the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. She is also a guest and affiliate of the American Indian Studies Center, where she serves on the faculty advisory committee. 
 
She directs a globally unique laboratory for clumped isotope geochemistry. Her work uses experimental and computational approaches to understand equilibrium and kinetic isotope effects and applies this knowledge to study biominerals, climate and ocean dynamics, and the co-evolution of life and environment throughout Earth history. Dr. Tripati has authored >100 publications, >200 presentations, and has >6000 citations.  She also is a co-author of the 5th National Climate Assessment. 
 
Dr. Tripati is the faculty director and founder of the Center for Diverse Leadership in Science. It builds on frameworks she implemented in her work with over 130 postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, undergraduates, and high school teachers and students. The Center is recognized nationally as a model for STEM transformation, and puts educational theory into practice within an innovative framework that focuses on diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and belonging. It supports more than 250 fellows including early career, faculty, and community experts, working to address problems in geoscience, climate science, environmental justice, science communication, and STEM more broadly.  
 
She is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the Geological Society of America (GSA), the Geochemical Society, and the European Association of Geochemistry. Dr. Tripati is a recipient of AGU’s Dansgaard Award, their Ambassador Award, GSA’s Bromery Award, and UCLA’s Career Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award. She received the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering. Dr. Tripati is an elected member of the California Academy of Sciences. She also serves on the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Board of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate. 
 
Dr. Tripati also is active in public engagement and participation in science, collaborating with community-based organizations and museums. A child prodigy, she started university at the age of 12. She received her B.S. in Geological Sciences from California State University, Los Angeles, a minority-serving institution, her Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz, was a research fellow at the University of Cambridge, and a research scientist at Caltech, prior to joining the faculty at UCLA.


Abstract: Frontiers of carbonate clumped isotope geochemistry as an applied tool in paleoceanography and paleoclimatology, within an inclusive science framework

The emergence of new proxies enables us to address fundamental questions about Earth’s climate evolution. A promising tool for the study of past oceanographic conditions is the carbonate clumped isotope thermometer. In principle, this technique can provide a thermodynamically-based estimate of carbonate mineral formation temperature and a relatively assumption-free calculation of the oxygen isotopic composition of seawater. Over the past fifteen years, I have worked to develop its usability for paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic reconstructions. These efforts include studying the systematics of carbonate clumped isotopes in foraminifera and coccoliths and other geological archives including coral, mollusks, and lacustrine carbonates. In this talk, I will summarize work we have done to improve measurement capabilities, advance our understanding of equilibrium and kinetic isotope fractionations in dissolved inorganic carbonate and carbonate minerals, and highlight several applications to reconstruct past marine and terrestrial temperatures. Our work is being done in fields that have extremely low levels of diversity, paleoceanography, climate science, and geochemistry, with impacts on culture, the health of the discipline and the people in it, and scientific innovation. I will describe our work to address this issue using an inclusive science framework.


Abstract: Bringing Together Diverse Perspectives on Water and Climate

Although the availability of freshwater is a major factor influencing humans and ecosystems, the ways in which water availability will change in many parts of our warming world in the future is unknown. Exploration of past and present-day environments and uses and understandings of water can provide critical information, transforming our ability to understand the processes impacting water and our relationship to water and each other. I will describe a research project that braids together different strands of research from multiple disciplines on the water cycle and climate in the water-stressed Southwestern US. One strand of this work involves applying a cutting-edge isotopic tracer to sediments from ancient lake basins in order to resolve the history of the water cycle. In another strand of research, we are working on comparing geological observations with results from climate models. A third strand of this work involves gathering data on water issues, past, present, and future, facing different Indigenous communities whose waters are in the region, and working with community experts to co-develop projects centered on tribal priorities, build community capacity, and engage in reparative work.