Portrait of Jonathan Raberg
Postdoctoral Scholar •
• Paleoclimatology • Organic geochemistry • Quaternary research • Spectroscopy
jonathan.raberg@colorado.edu


Bio

I'm interested in using organic geochemical proxies, especially brGDGTs, to study the paleoclimate/paleoecology of Baffin Island and Iceland and constrain predictions for future Arctic warming and climate change. 

Education

  • PhD, Geological Sciences: University of Colorado Boulder, 2021
  • MS, Chemistry: University of California, Berkeley, 2015
  • BA, Chemistry: Carleton College, 2012

Research

Selected publications

Crump, C., Fréchette, B., Power, M., Cutler, S., de Wet, G., Raynolds, M. K., Raberg, J., Briner, J. P., Thomas, E. K., Sepúlveda, J., Shapiro, B., Bunce, M., and Miller, G. H., 2021: Ancient plant DNA reveals High Arctic greening during the Last Interglacial. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(13): e2019069118. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2019069118

Raberg, J., Harning, D., Crump, S., de Wet, G., Blumm, A., Kopf, S., Geirsdóttir, Á., Miller, G. H., and Sepúlveda, J., 2021: Revised fractional abundances and warm-season temperatures substantially improve brGDGT calibrations in lake sediments. Biogeosciences, 18(12): 3579-3603. DOI: 10.5194/bg-18-3579-2021

Raberg, J., Vatamanu, J., Harris, S. J., van Oversteeg, C. H. M., Ramos, A., Borodin, O., and Cuk, T. 2019: Probing electric double-layer composition via in situ vibrational spectroscopy and molecular simulations. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 10(12): 3381-3389. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.9b00879

 


News

Dwarf birch growing in northern Qikiqtaaluuk, Baffin Island
Ancient plant DNA and pollen found under Baffin Island lake show a greener Arctic (ArcticToday)

April 8, 2021

The snowy landscape of the Arctic was greener more than 100,000 years ago and could get there again as the climate warms and plants migrate further north, new research suggests. Plant DNA taken from soil 10 meters below a lake near Clyde River shows dwarf birch shrubs used to grow up to the northernmost point of Baffin Island, according to research led by Sarah Crump, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The samples, more than 100,000 years old, were found in soil and were more intact than samples from permafrost, suggesting they may have remained unfrozen.

Dwarf birch growing in northern Qikiqtaaluuk, Baffin Island
Arctic was once lush and green, could be again, new research shows (CU Boulder Today)

March 17, 2021

Imagine not a white, but a green Arctic, with woody shrubs as far north as the Canadian coast of the Arctic Ocean. This is what the northernmost region of North America looked like about 125,000 years ago, during the last interglacial period, finds new research from CU Boulder led by Sarah Crump. Researchers analyzed plant DNA more than 100,000 years old retrieved from lake sediment in the Arctic and found evidence of a past ecosystem. As the Arctic warms much faster than everywhere else on the planet in response to climate change, the findings, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may not only be a glimpse of the past but a snapshot of our potential future.

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