INSTAAR: Gifford Miller

Fellow and Associate Director of INSTAAR; Professor of Geological Sciences, Univ. of Colorado at Boulder.

PhD, University of Colorado, 1975.

gmiller@Colorado.edu
(303) 492-8437, 492-5075, 492-6962

INSTAAR Directorate Members

Specialty: Quaternary stratigraphy, geochronology, and paleoclimatology.

Research Interests: My primary scholarly interests focus on gaining an improved understanding of how the physical earth system operates. Toward this end, I am specifically interested in using the Quaternary as a means to reconstruct the coupled ocean/atmospheric/ice climate system. By reconstructing past environmental changes it is possible to get a better understanding of the rates and magnitude of natural climate variability, and the various feedback mechanisms in the global climate system. I am also interested in the role of humans in the modification of landscapes and ecosystem on Quaternary timescales.

Present Research: Quaternary stratigraphy and dating methods; amino acid geochronology, and cosmogenic exposure dating; Glacial history of the Arctic, focusing on glacial chronology and ice-sheet dynamics using direct field evidence, and quantitative estimates of the timing and magnitude of warm times in the Arctic. I also have a research interest in monsoons on Quaternary time scales, and the causes of megafauna extinctions.

Selected Publications:

Miller, G.H., Geirsdóttir, Á., Zhong, Y., et al., 2012: Abrupt onset of the Little Ice Age triggered by volcanism and sustained by sea-ice/ocean feedbacks. Geophysical Research Letters, 39: L02708. doi: 10.1029/2011GL050168
Miller, G.H., Alley, R. B., Brigham-Grette, J., et al., 2010: Arctic amplification: can the past constrain the future?. Quaternary Science Reviews, 29(15-16): 1779-1790. doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.02.008
Arctic Lakes 2K Project Members, 2009: Recent warming reverses long-term Arctic cooling. Science, 325: 1236-1239. doi: 10.1126/science.1173983
Anderson, R.K., Miller, G.H., Briner, J.P., et al., 2008: A millennial perspective on Arctic warming from 14C in quartz and plants emerging from beneath ice caps. Geophysical Research Letters, 35: L01502. doi: 10.1029/2007GL032057
Geirsdóttir, Á ., Miller, G.H., and Andrews, J.T., 2007: Glaciation, erosion, and landscape evolution of Iceland. Journal of Geodynamics, 43(1): 170-186. doi: 10.1016/j.jog.2006.09.017
Otto-Bliesner, B.L., Marshall, S.J., Overpeck, J.T., Miller, G.H., Hu, A. and CAPE Last Interglacial Project Members, 2006: Simulating Arctic Climate Warmth and Icefield Retreat in the Last Interglaciation. Science, 311: 1751-1753.
Overpeck J.T., Otto-Bliesner, B.L., Miller, G.H., Muhs, D.R., Alley, R.B., and Kiehl, J.T., 2006: Paleoclimatic evidence for future ice-sheet instability and rapid sea-level rise. Science, 311: 1747-1750. 10.1126/science.1115159
Miller, G.H., Briner, J.B., Lifton, N.A., and Finkel, R.C., 2006. Limited ice-sheet erosion and complex exposure histories derived from in situ cosmogenic 10Be, 26Al, and 14C on Baffin Island, Arctic Canada. Quaternary Geochronology, 1: 74-85.
Miller, G. H., Fogel, M. L., Magee, J. W., Gagan, M. K., Clarke, S., and Johnson, B. J., 2005: Ecosystem collapse in Pleistocene Australia and a human role in megafaunal extinction. Science, 309, 287-290. doi: 10.1126/science.1111288
Briner, J.P., Miller, G.H., Davis. P.T., Bierman, P.R. and Caffee, M., 2003: Last Glacial Maximum ice sheet dynamics in Arctic Canada inferred from young erratics perched on ancient tors. Quaternary Science Reviews, 22: 437-444.
Miller, G.H., Magee, J.W., Johnson, B.J., Fogel, M., Spooner, N.A., McCulloch, M.T., Ayliffe, L.K., 1999: Pleistocene extinction of Genyornis newtoni: human impact on Australian megafauna. Science, 283: 205-208. doi: 10.1126/science.283.5399.205
Miller, G.H., Magee, J.W. and Jull, A.J.T., 1997: Low-latitude glacial cooling in the Southern Hemisphere from amino acid racemization in emu eggshells. Nature, 385: 241-244. doi: 10.1038/385241a0

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