CEN graduate Valerie Menke honored

3 June 2015, by Franziska Neigenfind

Yesterday the “Gesellschaft Harmonie von 1789 e.V.” and the “Friends and Supporters of the CEN” association awarded the Partner Cities Prize to Valerie Menke from Universität Hamburg’s Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN).

Yesterday the “Gesellschaft Harmonie von 1789 e.V.” and the “Friends and Supporters of the CEN” association awarded the Partner Cities Prize to Valerie Menke from Universität Hamburg’s Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN). The geologist was honored in recognition of her outstanding Master’s thesis, in which she investigated a major climate shift that took place roughly ten thousand years ago and had serious consequences for the ecosystems of the eastern Mediterranean. 

Using the organic deposits in three sediment cores taken from the Mediterranean seafloor, Menke reconstructed the causes of the climate shift. The ancient layers contain both vegetable and animal matter; above all, remains of many foraminiferal species can be found. The chemical composition of these planktic organisms’ calcium carbonate shells offers valuable clues to the regional climate; for example, the ratio of calcium to barium is an indicator of how much water from the Nile catchment area flowed into the Mediterranean in this time.

On this basis, Menke was able to reconstruct changes in the climate system: triggered by an intense summer monsoon over northern Africa, the Nile supplied the Mediterranean with unusually large quantities of freshwater, and with them, barium. The freshwater rested atop the saltwater like a lid, limiting water circulation for roughly 4,000 years and causing many marine ecosystems to collapse. “If this scenario were to repeat itself today, it would have grave consequences for the ecosystems and people living in the densely populated Mediterranean region,” says Menke.

Partner Cities Prize jury members Prof. emeritus Hartmut Graßl (Max Planck Institute for Meteorology) and Prof. emeritus Jürgen Sündermann (Institute of Oceanography) praised the Master’s thesis, which they felt was impressively innovative and nearly reflected the level of research involved in a doctoral dissertation. Menke was officially awarded the 5,000-euro prize during the 25^th Marine Climate Symposium (Meeresumweltsymposium), held yesterday at Hamburg’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH). Congratulations!

The Gesellschaft Harmonie von 1789 e. V. and the “Friends and Supporters of the CEN” award the Partner Cities Prize on an annual basis for outstanding academic works written at Universität Hamburg and focusing on water, seas or climate. Given that their close connection to water is the element that unites Hamburg and it partner cities, the findings presented in Menke’s winning thesis are relevant for all cities on the Mediterranean coastline, including Hamburg’s partner city Marseille.

Further information:

• The Gesellschaft Harmonie's Partner Cities Prize
• Marine Climate Symposium (German)