Dr. Matthew Schmidt

Bio

Dr. Schmidt's research interests focus on understanding the links between air-sea interactions and climate change during the last several glacial cycles (the past 500,000 years). He studies the geochemistry of both planktonic and benthic foraminifera recovered from deep-sea sediment cores to reconstruct climate variability ranging from orbital to centennial time scales. By measuring trace metal ratios and stable isotopic values in foraminiferal calcite, he has reconstructed records of past temperature, sea surface salinity, and ocean circulation change in the tropical and subtropical North Atlantic.

His ongoing research goals are to investigate how past changes in the hydrologic cycle and ocean circulation impacted inter- and intra-basin salinity gradients and to determine how these changes influence large-scale North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation variability across abrupt climate events such as the Younger Dryas and the millennial-scale climate fluctuations characteristic of the last ice age know as Dansgaard-Oeschger events.

Research Interests

• Paleoceanography
• Paleoclimatology
• Foraminiferal Geochemistry
• Micropaleontology

Projects

• One of Dr. Schmidt ongoing projects includes collaborating with Jean Lynch-Stieglitz at the Georgia Institute of Technology to determine the relative timing between atmospheric vs. ocean circulation change in the tropical and subtropical North Atlantic across last glacial termination by generating proxy records for sea surface salinity and ocean circulation change in several cores recovered from the margins of the Florida Straits.
• Dr. Schmidt is also working with Niall Slowey in the Oceanography Department here at Texas A&M on reconstructing high-resolution records of the timing of meltwater discharge into the Gulf of Mexico during the last glacial termination - a time when the Laurentide ice sheet of North America was rapidly disintegrating as climate transition from the last ice age into the warm climate of today.
• In an effort to better understand feedback mechanisms in the climate system, Dr. Schimdt also collaborates with Dr. Ping Chang, a climate modeler / physical oceanographer here at Texas A&M.  By combining paleo-proxy reconstructions of past temperature change and numerical modeling experiments, Drs. Schmidt and Chang are able to test the predictions produced by coupled general circulation models (GCMs) of how the ocean/atmosphere system interacted across abrupt climate transitions.
• Dr. Schmidt, together with 4 other PIs, was just awarded funding by the National Science Foundation to purchase a High Resolution ICP-MS (Element XR).  This state of the art mass spectrometer, together with a newly completed clean lab facility, greatly enhances the analytical capabilities of our College and will allow our students to gain hands on analytical experience in the lab.  

Experience

• 2007-present, Assistant Professor Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
• 2005-2007, NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
• 2000-2005, Graduate Researcher, Department of Geology, University of California, Davis.
• 1995-1997, Teaching Assistant, Department of Geology, University of South Florida.
• 1991-1993, Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Geology, Vanderbilt University.

Publications

• Wan, X., P. Chang, R. Saravanan, R. Zhang, and M. W. Schmidt. 2009. On the interpretation of Caribbean paleotemperature reconstructions during the Younger Dryas. Geophys. Res. Lett. 36, L02701, doi:10.1029/2008GL035805.

• Dirk Nürnberg, Martin Ziegler, Cyrus Karas, Ralf Tiedemann, Matthew Schmidt. 2008. Interacting Loop Current Variability and Mississippi River Discharge over the Past 400 kyrs. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2008.04.051.

• Schmidt, M.W., Vautravers, M.J., and Spero, H.J. October 2006. Rapid North Atlantic Salinity Oscillations Across Dansgaard-Oeschger Cycles. Nature 443:5, 561-564. doi:10.1038/nature05121.

• Schmidt, M.W., Vautravers, M.J., and Spero, H.J. 2006. Western Caribbean Sea Surface Temperatures During the Late Quaternary. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 7, doi:10.1029/2005GC000957.
• Schmidt, M.W., Spero, H.J., and Lea, D.W. March 2004. Links between salinity variation in the Caribbean and North Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation. Nature 428:11, 160-163. doi:10.1038/nature02346.
• Schmidt, M.W. and Spero, H.J. In prep. Evidence for Tropical Hydrologic Cycle Change Linked to Northern Hemisphere Ice Sheet Dynamics Across the Last Three Glacial Cycles.

Awards

• Allen G. Marr Prize, University of California, Davis, for most distinguished dissertation in the fields of Mathematics, Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Social Sciences, 2006.
• USSSP Schlanger Ocean Drilling Fellowship. $23,000. Given by the Ocean Drilling Program in support of graduate research on: Temperature and hydrological changes in the western Caribbean and the central North Atlantic during the last 450 kyr. 2002-2003
• USSSP Schlanger Ocean Drilling Fellowship. $23,000. Given by the Ocean Drilling Program in support of graduate research on: Temperature and Hydrological Changes in the Western Caribbean and the Tropical Pacific During the Last 750 kyr. 2001-2002.
• Outstanding Master's Thesis Award. Given by the College of Arts and Science, University of South Florida, 1998
• Geological Society of America Research Award. Given for graduate research, University of South Florida, 1996-1997.
• Sigma Xi Award. Given in support of graduate research, University of South Florida, 1996-1997.
• American Museum of Natural History, New York, Lerner Gray Grant for Marine Research Award. Given in support of graduate research, University of South Florida, 1996-1997.
• Tampa Bay Fossil Club Award. Given in support of graduate research, University of South Florida, 1996.

News

• Dr. Schmidt is currently looking for new graduate students.  If you are interested in finding out more about my research, please contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it