Dr. Patrick Blaser

Post-Doctoral Research Assistant

at University of Lausanne (Switzerland)
Faculty of Geosciences and Environment
Institute of Earth Sciences Section for Paleoenvironment, Evolution of Life and Ocean Dynamics
Laboratory for Biogeochemical Oceanography Across Time (BOAT)


Employment history:

since 03.2021: Post-Doctoral Research Assistant, University of Lausanne (Switzerland), Institute of Earth Sciences, Laboratory for Biogeochemical Oceanography Across Time (with Samuel Jaccard)

07.2017 – 10.2020: Post-Doctoral Research Assistant, Heidelberg University (Germany), Institute of Earth Sciences, Past Ocean Dynamics (with Jörg Lippold)

08.2013 – 06.2017: Doctoral Research Assistant, Heidelberg University (Germany), Institute of Environmental Physics, Physics of Environmental Archives (with Norbert Frank)


Education:

PhD. in Physics at Heidelberg University, Institute of Environmental Physics (2013 – 2017)

MSc. in Physics at Heidelberg University (2011 – 2013)

BSc. in Physics at Heidelberg University (2007 – 2011) (including one Erasmus exchange semester at the University of Manchester, UK, in 2009)


Work and research philosophy:

Coming from a physics education with interest in chemistry and working in (palaeo-)climatology and marine isotope geochemistry, I like to keep a broad and comprehensive view of my research topic. To achieve this, I desire to discuss my own and other’s research in detail, because often the different experiences and ways of thinking can have significant impact on the interpretations of complex data. Thus, a good connection with experts across different disciplines is crucial.

I use statistical analyses and simple box models wherever meaningful to make processes (or their absence) visible that tend to be obscured in heaps of uncertain and variably biased data, and to estimate their significance. On the laboratory side I like to know exactly what my methods do and how they work, and use this knowledge to make the analyses robust and efficient so that a larger sample throughput can be achieved. This in turn lets me gain better spatial and temporal coverage of palaeoclimatological data, which increases our confidence and the significance of the interpretations and decreases the risk of bias. Moreover, I enjoy to teach and supervise students, foster critical thinking.


Research Cruises:

2021: GEOTRACES process study cruise GApr16 “MetalGate” (Onshore participant for seawater Nd isotope analysis; Subpolar North Atlantic and Nordic Seas around Iceland)

2018: Research cruise M151 onboard RV Meteor (CTD and multi-corer operations, sediment pore water extractions; Eastern North Atlantic and Azores Plateau)

2017: Research cruise M141-2 onboard RV Meteor (CTD operations; Eastern North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea)


Invited Talks:

2022: Invited Talk in the PAGES OC3 seminar series (international online seminar)

2022: Invited Talk at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Woods Hole, USA)

2022: Invited Talk at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (Mainz, Germany)

2021: Invited Talk at the Department of Geography of University College London (UK)

2020: Invited Talk at the School of Earth Sciences at University of Bristol (UK)

2020: Solicited presentation at EGU General Assembly (Sharing Geoscience online) session “Tracers in the Paleo Sea” (presented online)

2018: Invited Talk at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (New York State, USA)


Workshops and Conferences:

2021: Convenor of Goldschmidt international geochemistry conference session “Drivers of the climate system over the Cenozoic Era”

2019: Lead convenor of EGU General Assembly session “The role of ocean circulation in glacial-interglacial climates”

2018: Participation and presentation at PAGES’ OC3 / IPODS workshop (Cambridge, UK)

2017: Nature Geoscience Poster Award at Pages Young Scientists Meeting (Zaragoza, Spain)

2013: Participation at ECORD Summer School “Deep-Sea Sediments – From Stratigraphy to Age Models” at MARUM (Bremen, Germany)

Also, I have repeatedly visited AGU Fall meeting, EGU’s General Assembly, Goldschmidt international conference on Geochemistry, International Conference on Paleoceanography and other conferences, and presented my research as oral and poster contributions.


Outreach:

2020: Presentation and discussion about climate change for A-level students at “Akademie für Kommunikation” secondary school, Karlsruhe, Germany


Skills:

Languages: German (native speaker), English (fluent), French (basic command), Spanish (basic command)

Programming: R (good proficiency), Visual Basic (intermediate), Python (basics)

Laboratory sequential sediment leaching and total digestion, methods: chemical column chromatography, clean laboratory set up, use, and management, ICP-MS management, identifying and picking sediment particles such as foraminifera, ship-based CTD and sediment multi-corer operations and sampling

Measurement MC-ICP-MS (experienced), ICP-QMS (experienced), HR-ICP-MS (experienced), techniques: ICP-OES (basic knowledge), TIMS (basic knowledge) XRF (basic knowledge), XRD (basic knowledge), RockEval (basic knowledge)

Data science: data base management statistical data analysis visualisation of complex data numerical model development and application

Safety: training in fire protection and handling of dangerous chemicals including hydrofluoric acid


Review activity:

for journals

  • Chemical Geology

  • Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems

  • Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

  • Marine Geology

  • Minerals

  • Nature

  • Nature Geoscience

  • Quaternary Science Reviews

for organisations

  • UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)


Acquired funding:

2022: European Commission Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellowship for 3 year project on the use of trace metal geochemistry in marine sediments for the reconstruction of bottom water oxygen concentrations (~ 320 000 €)

2022: SNSF Swiss Postdoctoral Fellowship for 2 year project on the use of trace metal geochemistry in marine sediments for the reconstruction of bottom water oxygen concentrations (~ 226 000 CHF, declined by me due to parallel project)

2021: SNSF Flexibility Grant (~ 35 000 €)

2015: DFG research grant for 3 year PhD project on ocean circulation reconstruction of the past 1 Million years with Nd isotopes, proposed together with Jörg Lippold and Norbert Frank (~ 150 000 € Link)

2013: DFG research grant for own 3 year PhD project on Last Glacial Maximum ocean circulation reconstruction with Nd isotopes, proposed together with Jörg Lippold and Norbert Frank (~ 150 000 €; Link)


Teaching:

Supervision

as principal or specialist supervisor

  • Pfannschmidt J. (2020) Can concentration changes of Atlantic deep water Nd be estimated from Holocene end member variations? Bachelor’s thesis.

  • Goetze G. L. (2019) Neodymium isotopic signature: Paleo scavenging versus water mass mixing. Bachelor’s thesis.

  • Vogt-Vincent N. (2018) Ice-rafted debris as a source of non-conservative behaviour for the εNd palaeotracer: insights from a simple model. Visiting student from Oxford University, UK.

  • Tagliavini M. (2018) Extraction of Rare Earth Elements from seawater employing sep-pak C18 cartridges. Bachelor’s thesis.

  • Pöppelmeier F. (2016) Investigations of Authigenic Neodymium Sediment-Pore Water Interaction and Reconstruction of Deep Water Mass Sourcing in the North-East Atlantic. Master’s thesis.

  • Link J. M. (2015) Rekonstruktion der Ozeanzirkulation im Nordatlantik während ausgewählter glazialer Terminationen der letzten 900 ka anhand von Neodymisotopen. Master’s thesis.

  • Dietrich R. (2014) Konzentrationsbestimmungen Seltener Eden am ICP-QMS. Bachelor’s thesis.

  • Förstel J. (2014) Messung von Lithium-Magnesium-Verhältnissen an einem iCAP Q™ Quadrupol-Massenspektrometer mit induktiv gekoppelter Plasmaionenquelle. Bachelor’s thesis.

  • Eisinger P. (2014) Analysis and evaluation of a leaching procedure for the extraction of authigenic rare earth elements (REE) from marine sediments of the North Atlantic. Bachelor’s thesis.

  • de Carvalho Ferreira M. L. (2013) Water mass reconstruction by Nd isotopic analysis from mid Atlantic ocean sediments. Bachelor’s thesis.


Co-supervised student theses

  • Bollen M. (ongoing) Constraining past changes in remineralized carbon sequestration in Southern Ocean subsurface ocean water masses across the last glacial cycle. PhD thesis.

  • Pöppelmeier F. (2019) The Atlantic water mass structure since the Last Glacial Maximum: New insights from Nd isotopes. PhD thesis.

  • Süfke F. (2020) The application of Pa/Th in the Atlantic Ocean for the reconstruction of past circulation strength. PhD thesis.

  • Link J. M. (2021) 900 ka of Nd-isotope changes in the deep North Atlantic. PhD thesis.

  • Kullik V. (2017) Rekonstruktion der Zirkulation im NO-Atlantik der letzten 30 ka unter dem Einfluss von Mittelmeerwasser anhand der Neodymisotopie. Master’s thesis.

  • Hauck L. (2017) Rekonstruktion der Zirkulation im westlichen Nordatlantik über die letzten 30 ka mittels der Neodymisotopie von Blake Bahama Outer Ridge Sedimenten. Master’s thesis.


Supervised experimental courses

  • practical training course in physics for earth scientists (execution, description, and evaluation of physical laboratory experiments)

  • practical field experiments in physical limnology (CTD measurements on a lake and radon decay counting in the laboratory)