Biography
Hönisch is interested in the effects of global carbon cycle perturbations on climate and the oceans, in particular past variations of seawater acidity and its relation to atmospheric CO2. As she was originally trained as a marine biologist, her research includes culture experiments with living marine calcifiers to validate proxies for past environmental conditions. She applies the resulting calibrations to reconstructing seawater carbonate chemistry and atmospheric CO2 variations through Earth history. At LDEO, her current research projects include the compilation and modernization of atmospheric CO2 reconstructions over the past 470 million years, and calibration studies on the boron isotope proxy for seawater acidity. At CU, she teaches classes on past, present and future climate change, oceanography, and paleoceanography.