Lab Spotlight, National Taiwan University

College of Science

IONTU Paleoproxy Lab

Official Website

Principal Investigator : Sze Ling Ho

Team Size : 9

Study Field : Paleoclimatology, Paleoceanography, Biogeosciences, Biomarkers

Forms of Int'l Cooperation : Joint Research Project, Personnel Exchange, Student Exchange, Equipment Share, Seminar

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Lab Introduction

Our research aims to understand past changes in climate and ocean conditions by analyzing fossilized lipids and calcite microfossils found in marine sediments covering the seafloor. These fossils serve as proxies for climate conditions beyond the instrumental era. We focus on proxies used to derive seawater temperature, often referred to as paleothermometers. Since the proxy recordings of climate signals are indirect, we strive to improve the interpretation of proxy data, enhancing their reproducibility and enabling inter-comparison between different proxies. Our goal is to provide better constraints for proxy-derived climate reconstructions, which, in turn, help refine the numerical models used to project future climate change.

International Cooperation Experience

MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Science; University of Bremen | Indo-Pacific paleoclimate reconstruction using foraminifera | Germany

Joint Research Project Personnel Exchange
2018 ~ present
Utrecht University; GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel; Durham University; Queen Mary University of London; University of California Los Angeles; Universidad de Santiago de Chile | Foraminiferal Mg/Ca-derived ocean temperature during the late Pliocene | Chile, Germany, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States of America

Joint Research Project
2024 ~ present
Université Côte d’Azur; Université de Brest; Université Perpignan Via Domitia | Extreme events archived in geological records off Taiwan | France

Joint Research Project Personnel Exchange Student Exchange Equipment Share Seminar
2018 ~ present
Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research | Reconstructing paleotemperature using glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers | Germany

Joint Research Project Personnel Exchange Equipment Share
2018 ~ present
University Malaysia Terengganu | Assessing the application of benthic and planktonic foraminifera from southern South China Sea as paleothermometry tools of regional regional ocean temperature records: Implications for understanding climate change during the Holocene | Malaysia

Joint Research Project Personnel Exchange Equipment Share
2022 ~ present
PlioVAR & PlioMioVAR PAGES working group | Pliocene and Miocene climate variability over glacial-interglacial timescales

Joint Research Project
2018 ~ present
Kanazawa University; The University of Tokyo; Hokkaido University; National Museum of Nature and Science; Kochi University; The University of the Ryukyus; National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology | Reconstructing paleotemperature in the Northwest Pacific | Japan

Joint Research Project Personnel Exchange Equipment Share Seminar
2018 ~ present
German Academic Exchange Service | DAAD-RISE internship | Germany

Student Exchange
2023 ~ present
Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research; University of Potsdam | Proxy signal formation in palaeoclimate archives | Germany

Joint Research Project Personnel Exchange
2018 ~ present
Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology | TUMSAT internship | Japan

Student Exchange
2019 ~ 2019

Principal Investigator

Sze Ling Ho

Position : Associate Professor, Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University

Email : slingho@ntu.edu.tw

Education / Background :

PhD, Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Germany
MSc, Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Japan
BEng, Chemical-Gas Engineering, University of Technology Malaysia, Malaysia