Greer Gilmer

Greer is a climate researcher and MBIE Science Whitinga Fellow at GNS Science in Ōtepoti/Dunedin. During this expedition she will be collecting peat cores to investigate past climate in the subantarctic.

Greer completed her undergraduate and Masters at the University Canterbury, Christchurch. For her MSc she travelled to the Dry Valleys, Antarctica to investigate the depositional environment of Devonian age sediments. After completing her MSc, Greer worked as an engineering geologist and site engineer on projects around New Zealand, particularly in Christchurch before, during, and following earthquakes. Greer returned to university to complete her PhD at the University of Otago, which focused on reconstructing climate in the Southern Hemisphere over the past 18,000 years using sediment cores collected between New Zealand and Antarctica. For her PhD research Greer travelled to subantarctic Auckland Islands. She developed a reconstruction of westerly wind strength following the Last Glacial Maximum that encompasses the Southern Hemisphere from New Zealand to Antarctica. Greer has expertise in a variety of climate proxy analysis including major element geochemistry, radiocarbon dating, and diatom micropaleontology. In addition to her research, Greer is interested in outreach, support and accessibility for under-represented groups in the geosciences.