Prell, Warren

Warren L Prell

Henry L. Doherty Professor Emeritus of Oceanography

Overview

I received a BA in 1966 with Honors from Hanover College, and a PhD in 1974 from Columbia University. I became director of oceanographic and geologic programs for the NYC Energy Research and Development Authority before being appointed as Assistant Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at Brown in 1975. I was promoted to full professor in 1989, and was appointed to the Henry L. Doherty Chair in Oceanography in 1990.

Brown Affiliations

Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

Research Areas

deep-sea depositional environments | history of Indian Ocean monsoon | marine geology | paleoecology of plankton | testing global circulation models with paleoclimatic data

Publications Visualize it

Thomas, Elizabeth K., Clemens, Steven C., Sun, Youbin, Prell, Warren L., Huang, Yongsong, Gao, Li, Loomis, Shannon, Chen, Guangshan, Liu, Zhengyu. "Heterodynes dominate precipitation isotopes in the East Asian monsoon region, reflecting interaction of multiple climate factors." Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 455, 2016, pp. 196-206.

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Sijinkumar, A.V., Clemens, Steven, Nath, B. Nagender, Prell, Warren, Benshila, Rachid, Lengaigne, Matthieu. "δ18O and salinity variability from the Last Glacial Maximum to Recent in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea." Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 135, 2016, pp. 79-91.

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Thomas, E. K., Clemens, S. C., Prell, W. L., Herbert, T. D., Huang, Y., Liu, Z., Sinninghe Damste, J. S., Sun, Y., Wen, X. "Temperature and leaf wax 2H records demonstrate seasonal and regional controls on Asian monsoon proxies." Geology, vol. 42, no. 12, 2014, pp. 1075-1078.

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Holbourn, Ann, Kuhnt, Wolfgang, Clemens, Steven, Prell, Warren, Andersen, Nils. "Middle to late Miocene stepwise climate cooling: Evidence from a high-resolution deep water isotope curve spanning 8 million years." Paleoceanography, vol. 28, no. 4, 2013, pp. 688-699.

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Caballero-Gill, Rocio P., Clemens, Steve, Prell, Warren. "Antarctic Isotope Maxima events 24 and 25 identified in benthic marine δ 18 O." Paleoceanography, vol. 27, no. 1, 2012, pp. n/a-n/a.

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Caballero-Gill, Rocio P., Clemens, Steve C., Prell, Warren L. "Direct correlation of Chinese speleothem δ 18 O and South China Sea planktonic δ 18 O: Transferring a speleothem chronology to the benthic marine chronology." Paleoceanography, vol. 27, no. 2, 2012.

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Taylor, David L., Linehan, Jennifer C., Murray, David W., Prell, Warren L. "Indicators of sediment and biotic mercury contamination in a southern New England estuary." Marine Pollution Bulletin, vol. 64, no. 4, 2012, pp. 807-819.

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Zhisheng, A., Clemens, S. C., Shen, J., Qiang, X., Jin, Z., Sun, Y., Prell, W. L., Luo, J., Wang, S., Xu, H., Cai, Y., Zhou, W., Liu, X., Liu, W., Shi, Z., Yan, L., Xiao, X., Chang, H., Wu, F., Ai, L., Lu, F. "Glacial-Interglacial Indian Summer Monsoon Dynamics." Science, vol. 333, no. 6043, 2011, pp. 719-723.

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Chen, Guang-Shan, Liu, Zhengyu, Clemens, Steven C., Prell, Warren L., Liu, Xiaodong. "Modeling the time-dependent response of the Asian summer monsoon to obliquity forcing in a coupled GCM: a PHASEMAP sensitivity experiment." Clim Dyn, vol. 36, no. 3-4, 2010, pp. 695-710.

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Clemens, Steven C., Prell, Warren L., Sun, Youbin. "Orbital-scale timing and mechanisms driving Late Pleistocene Indo-Asian summer monsoons: Reinterpreting cave speleothem δ 18 O." Paleoceanography, vol. 25, no. 4, 2010.

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Clemens, Steven C., Prell, Warren L., Sun, Youbin, Liu, Zhengyu, Chen, Guangshan. "Southern Hemisphere forcing of Pliocene δ 18 O and the evolution of Indo-Asian monsoons." Paleoceanography, vol. 23, no. 4, 2008, pp. n/a-n/a.

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Nie, Junsheng, King, John, Liu, Zhengyu, Clemens, Steve, Prell, Warren, Fang, Xiaomin. "Surface-water freshening: A cause for the onset of North Pacific stratification from 2.75 Ma onward?." Global and Planetary Change, vol. 64, no. 1-2, 2008, pp. 49-52.

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LIU, Xiaodong, LIU, Zhengyu, CLEMENS, S., PRELL, W., KUTZBACH, J. "A Coupled Model Study of Glacial Asian Monsoon Variability and Indian Ocean Dipole." Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, vol. 85, no. 1, 2007, pp. 1-10.

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Huang, Yongsong, Clemens, Steven C., Liu, Weiguo, Wang, Yi, Prell, Warren L. "Large-scale hydrological change drove the late Miocene C4 plant expansion in the Himalayan foreland and Arabian Peninsula." Geology, vol. 35, no. 6, 2007, pp. 531.

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Clemens, Steven C., Prell, Warren L. "The timing of orbital-scale Indian monsoon changes." Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 26, no. 3-4, 2007, pp. 275-278.

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Liu, Xiaodong, Liu, Zhengyu, Kutzbach, John E., Clemens, Steven C., Prell, Warren L. "Hemispheric Insolation Forcing of the Indian Ocean and Asian Monsoon: Local versus Remote Impacts*." Journal of Climate, vol. 19, no. 23, 2006, pp. 6195-6208.

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Deacutis, Christopher F., Murray, David, Prell, Warren, Saarman, Emily, Korhun, Larissa. "Hypoxia in the Upper Half of Narragansett Bay, RI, During August 2001 and 2002." Northeastern Naturalist, vol. 13, no. sp4, 2006, pp. 173-198.

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Zhisheng, An, Yongsong, Huang, Weiguo, Liu, Zhengtang, Guo, Clemens, Steven, Li, Li, Prell, Warren, Youfeng, Ning, Yanjun, Cai, Weijian, Zhou, Benhai, Lin, Qingle, Zhang, Yunning, Cao, Xiaoke, Qiang, Hong, Chang, Zhenkun, Wu. "Multiple expansions of C4 plant biomass in East Asia since 7 Ma coupled with strengthened monsoon circulation." Geology, vol. 33, no. 9, 2005, pp. 705.

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Liu, Weiguo, Huang, Yongsong, An, Zhisheng, Clemens, Steven C., Li, Li, Prell, Warren L., Ning, Youfeng. "Summer monsoon intensity controls C4/C3 plant abundance during the last 35 ka in the Chinese Loess Plateau: Carbon isotope evidence from bulk organic matter and individual leaf waxes." Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol. 220, no. 3-4, 2005, pp. 243-254.

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McKenna, V. S. "Calibration of the Mg/Ca of Globorotalia truncatulinoides (R) for the reconstruction of marine temperature gradients." Paleoceanography, vol. 19, no. 2, 2004.

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Zhisheng A, Kutzbach JE, Prell WL, Porter SC. "Evolution of Asian monsoons and phased uplift of the Himalaya-Tibetan plateau since Late Miocene times." J. Geophys. Res., vol. 411, no. 6833, 2001, pp. 62-6.

Full Text PubMed

Prell WL. "Covariance Patterns of Foraminiferal dgr18O: An Evaluation of Pliocene Ice Volume Changes Near 3.2 Million Years Ago." Science, vol. 226, no. 4675, 1984, pp. 692-4.

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Prell WL, Hutson WH. "Zonal temperature-anomaly maps of Indian ocean surface waters: modern and ice-age patterns." Science, vol. 206, no. 4417, 1979, pp. 454-6.

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Research

Research Overview

I research global-scale paleoceanography and local-scale estuarine oceanography. I am interested in the paleoceanographic evolution of the Cenozoic climate-ocean system and the interaction between global tectonic and orbital forcing on the evolution of climate. I study changes on the modern annual cycle and on geologic time scales. My estuarine oceanography research is on distribution and causes of low dissolved oxygen in Narragansett Bay.

Research Statement

My research seeks to understand the evolution of the Cenozoic climate-ocean system and especially the evolution of the Indian-Asian monsoon system and how it is forced by interaction between regional tectonic changes, orbital forcing, and inter-hemisphere ocean feedbacks. A major thrust in my ongoing collaborative grant with Z. Liu (U. of Wisconsin) is the generation of time dependant GCM simulations of past climate that enable us to directly compare paleoceanographic timeseries to climate model results. This collaboration has already yielded several publications.

My estuarine oceanography research seeks to understand the dynamics of carbon and nitrogen cycling in Narragansett Bay as related to the recent and past environmental history of the Bay. Our NOAA CHRP grant and Brown seed money support have produced exciting results, which were presented at the Estuarine Research Foundation 19th Biennial Conference in Providence in fall 2008. Topics included the Episodic Summer-Time Hypoxia in Narragansett Bay (Narragansett Bay CHRP) (Prell WL, Murray DW, Orchardo JM, Deacutis C, Saarman E), Grain Size Patterns and Elemental Composition of Surface Sediments from Narragansett Bay (Murray, D.W., Rincon, C.E., and Prell, W.L), and Benthic foraminifers as proxies for the spatial and temporal extent of hypoxia (Narragansett Bay CHRP) (Martin, April H, Prell, Warren L, Murray, David, Heggie, Keira). These initial studies have set the foundation for new proposals on eutrophication and environmental history of the Bay. To help develop the critical mass of researchers here at Brown, I have worked closely with Jeremy Rich, a new appointment in CES, to develop the seed money proposal "Developing an Interdisciplinary Research Team: Narragansett Bay as a Model System". The past year's research has generated the data for several publications, which are in preparation. The dynamics of carbon/Nitrogen cycling related to estuarine processes is a hot topic and one that Brown researchers can carve out a niche.

Funded Research

Some Recently Funded Research:
NOAA: Coastal Hypoxia Research Program: Modeling Tools to Understand and Manage Hypoxia: Application to Narragansett Bay, a collaborative project with the Graduate School of Oceanography, URI, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, University of Connecticut, Avery Point, and Brown University

RI-INBRE Collaborative Research Proposal, Fate of mercury contaminants in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, to the Institutional Development Award (IDeA)

Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), to work with Co-PI with David Taylor, at Roger Williams University

RI Sea Grant, A Multi-Proxy Reconstruction of Anthropogenic-Induced Productivity and Spatial Coupling in Narragansett Bay

NSF Grant, Collaborative Research into Indo-Asian Monsoon Variability: Data and Model Assessment of Northern- and Southern-Hemisphere, (Co-PI Steve Clemens)

NOAA Grant from Coastal Hypoxia Research Program: Modeling Tools to Understand and Manage Hypoxia: Application to Narragansett Bay, a collaborative project with the Graduate School of Oceanography, URI, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, University of Connecticut, Avery Point, and Brown University

A Wayland Collegium Grant: Faculty Seminar on Stable Isotope Systems As Recorders Of The History And Process Of Environmental Change, co-PI Osvaldo Sala

ECI Grant, Spatial And Temporal Controls On Global-Scale Marine Biodiversity Using Planktonic Foraminifer Populations

ECI Grant, Testing the Use of Alkenones and Biomarkers to Develop an Independent Temperature and Environmental History of Narragansett Bay, Co-PI Tim Herbert

Proposal to the OVPR research fund, Developing an Interdisciplinary Research Team: Narragansett Bay as a Model System, Jeremy Rich, Steven Hamburg, Meredith Hastings, Heather Leslie, Warren Prell

NSF IGERT preproposal: IGERT: Futurizing Past Climate and Environmental Change, PI Warren Prell, Co-PIS Linda Amaral Zettler, MBL; John Marston, Physics; Martin Maxey, Applied Mathematics; James Russell, Geological Sciences; Brown University Senior Personnel, Steven Clemens, Meredith Hastings, Timothy D. Herbert, Yongsong Huang, Charles Lawrence, Jessica Whiteside and Zhengyu Liu, Director and Professor, Center for Climatic Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Scholarly Work

Clemens, S.C., Prell, W.L., and Sun, Y., in review, Orbital-scale timing and mechanisms driving Late Pleistocene Indo-Asian summer monsoons: Reinterpreting cave d18O, Paleoceanography.

Chen, G.-S., Z. Liu, J. Kutzbach, S. C. Clemens, and W. L. Prell, Modeling the evolutionary response of Asian Monsoon to obliquity forcing in a coupled GCM, Climate Dynamics, in preparation, 2009.

Chen, Guang-Shan; Liu, Zhengyu; Clemens, Steven C; Prell, Warren L; Liu, Xiaodong, 2009, Modeling the time-dependent response of Asian Summer Monsoon to obliquity forcing in a coupled GCM: A PHASEMAP sensitivity experiment, Climate Dynamics, DOI 10.1007/s00382-010-0740-3

Clemens, S.C., Prell, W.L., and Sun, Y., 2008 in review, Orbital-scale timing and mechanisms driving Indo-Asian summer monsoons: Reinterpreting speleothem d¹⁸O, Nature.

Nie, J., King, J., Liu, Z., Clemens, S., Prell, W., Fang, X., 2008, Surface-water freshening: A cause for the onset of North Pacific stratification from 2.75 Ma onward?, Global and Planetary Change, 64 (1-2), 49-52.

Clemens, S.C., Prell, W.L., Sun, Y., Liu, Z., and Chen, G., 2008, Southern Hemisphere forcing of Pliocene d¹⁸O and the evolution of Indo-Asian monsoons, Paleoceanography, 23, doi: 10.1029/2008pa001638.

Huang, Y., Clemens, S., Liu, W., Wang, Y., Prell, W., 2007, Large-scale hydrological change drove the late Miocene C4 plant expansion in the Himalayan foreland and Arabian Peninsula, Geology, v35, p. 531-534.

Liu, X., Liu, Z., Clemens, S., Prell, W., Kutzbach, J., 2007, A Coupled Model Study of Glacial Asian Monsoon Variability and Indian Ocean Dipole, Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, Vol 85, No.1, pp. 1-10.

Clemens, S. C., Prell, W.L., 2007, The timing of orbital-scale Indian monsoon changes, Article in Quaternary Science Reviews, Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 26, Issues 3-4, February 2007, Pages 275-278

Liu, X., Liu, Z., Kutzbach, J., Clemens, S., Prell, W., 2006, Hemispheric insolation forcing of the Indian Ocean and Asian monsoon: Local versus remote impacts, Journal of Climate, 19, 6195-6208.

Deacutis, C.F., Murray, D., Prell, W., Saarman, E., and Korhun, L., 2006, Hypoxia in the Upper Half of Narragansett Bay, RI, During August 2001 and 2002, in Natural and Anthropogenic Influences on the Mount Hope Bay Ecosystem, Northeastern Naturalist 13(Special Issue 4):173–198

Background

Education and Training

Year	Degree	Institution
1981	MA	Brown University
1974	PhD	Columbia University
1966	BA	Hanover College

Honors and Awards

2008: Elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU)

2002: Hanover College Alumni Achievement Award for distinguished professional service

Affiliations Visualize it

Affiliations

Fellow, Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research, A Joint Institute of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2000-.

Chair, United States Science Advisory Committee (USSAC) to the JOI/United States Science Support Program of the Ocean Drilling Program, 2001-2004.

Member, Committee of Visitors for NSF review of Marine Geosciences Section, June 2003.

Member, external review committee for Duke University, Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences in the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, February 2003.

Member, Advisory Council of the Department of Geological & Geophysical Sciences, Princeton University, 2000-.

Member, Nominating Committee, AGU Oceans Section, 2001-2003.

Member, MESH Steering Committee for NSF Marine Earth System History, 1993-2003.

Member of Steering Committee of EPILOG (Environmental Processes of the Ice Age: Land, Ocean, & Glaciers) an international program to understand past climates, 1998-.

Member of External Tenure Review Committee, 2000, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Member of External Review Committee for the Graduate Program in the College of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Oregon State University, 1997.

Member of Advisory Committee, Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project (PMIP), an international project endorsed by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program and the World Climate Research Program, 1996-.

Member of the Editorial Search Committee, American Geophysical Union, JGR-Oceans.

Member of External Tenure Review Committee, 1997, 1998, 1999, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

Invited Member to NSF meeting on needs for an Ocean Data Assimilation Center as part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE), February 1997.

Member, Advisory Council of the Department of Geological & Geophysical Sciences, Princeton University, 1995-1999.

Member, JOIDES-ODP Ocean History Panel, 1994-1997.

Member, MESH Steering Committee for NSF Marine Earth System History, 1993-.

Member, NAS/U.S. National Committee for INQUA (International Union for Quaternary Research), 1992-1996.

Member, NSF Review Panel, The Geologic Record of Global Change, 1990-1991.

Counselor for AMQUA, American Quaternary Association, elected 1990-1993.

Chair, Oversight Review Panel for NSF Ocean Drilling Program, 1989.
Member, Ocean Sciences Board (NRC) Committee on Oceans' Role in Global Change, 1989-1993.

Liaison Member to Advisory Committee for Earth Sciences, NSF, 1988-1990.

Member, Advisory Committee for the Atmospheric Sciences, NSF, 1987-1990.

Member, Narragansett Bay Project, Scientific and Academic Advisory Committee, 1986.

Member, NOAA Review Panel, National Academy of Science, Ocean Studies Board, 1986.

Member of Indian Ocean Panel, Ocean Drilling Program, 1983-1988
Member, NSF Review Panel, JOI Proposal for Management of Ocean Drilling Program, 1984.

Member, NSF Review Panel for Submarine Geology and Geophysics, Ocean Sciences Program, 1980-1982.

Researchers@Brown

Researchers@Brown

Warren L Prell

Henry L. Doherty Professor Emeritus of Oceanography

Overview

Brown Affiliations

Research Areas

Publications Visualize it

Research

Research Overview

Research Statement

Funded Research

Scholarly Work

Background

Education and Training

Honors and Awards

Affiliations Visualize it

Affiliations

Teaching

Teaching Overview