Link to Barrow Field Photo: April 2003: Coring

Link to Barrow Field Photos: August 2002

Link to Barrow Field and Lab Photos: April 2002

More lab photos; crew photos 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003

Link to thaw basin sediment core: April 2002

Link to August 2001 Barrow Field Photos

Link to Barrow Field and Lab Photos-April 2001

Link to Thaw Lake basin (young class)

Ancient thaw lake basin

 Newly drained basin-2000

Link to PARCS Microfossils:

I am a physical geographer, environmental scientist, and archaeologist trained in America and Europe. My main geographical interest is the Arctic: Alaska, Siberia, and Greenland. I am also a pollen analyst, or "palynologist" and I identify and interpret fossil pollen from ancient sediments (lakes and peats) in order to reconstruct past vegetation and climate. My background is interdisciplinary and international and I have degrees in Anthropology from the United States (B.A.) and Social Anthropology (M.A.) and Physical Geography and Archaeology (Ph.D.) from the Netherlands.

The purpose of my research is to provide reliable records of vegetation change in the Arctic in order to understand long-term spatial and temporal patterns of vegetation succession and climate. The Arctic tundra contains relatively stable depositional environments with extensive peat deposits. These represent a potential major resource of paleoecological information, recording the process of plant succession and carbon sequestration since the Last Glacial period about 13,000 years ago. Local vegetation and geomorphic change is also addressed in this work by including the analysis of microfossils in addition to pollen, especially fossil spores, fungi, and algae. Much of this research is integrated study with scientists studying modern vegetation, soil, and geomorphology in the same area.

I also study gender roles in prehistoric and ethnographic contexts.  My current project is specifically concerned with the impact of humans on the environment. I am developing a project with Alaskan Native elders to incorporate their perceptions and understanding of their environment in order to improve our scientific knowledge of the Arctic region.

Recent Publications

Eisner, W.R., Bockheim, J.G., Hinkel, K.M., Brown, T.A., Nelson, F.E., Peterson, K.M., Jones, B.M. . (2005) Paleoenvironmental analyses of an organic deposit from an erosional landscape remnant, Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska" Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 217: 187-204.

Eisner, W. R. and Kamermans, H. (2004). Late Quaternary Vegetation History of Latina, Italy: a Final Report on the Mezzaluna Core, in S. Holstrom, A. Voorrips & H. Kamermans (eds) The Agro Pontino Archaeological Survey (CD-ROM), Archaeological Studies A S L U , Vol. 11, Leiden University, Leiden.

Bockheim, J.G., Hinkel, K. M., Eisner, W. R., and Dai, X.Y. (2004). Carbon pools and accumulation rates in an age-series of soils in drained thaw-lake basins, arctic Alaska, Soil Science Society of America Journal, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 68:697–704

D.S. Kaufman, T.A. Ager, N.J. Anderson, P.M. Anderson, J.T. Andrews, P.J. Bartlein, L.B. Brubaker, L.L. Coats, L.C. Cwynar, M.L. Duvall, A.S. Dyke, M.E. Edwards, W.R. Eisner, K. Gajewski, A. Geirsdóttir, F.S. Hu, A.E. Jennings, M.R. Kaplan, M.W. Kerwin. A.V. Lozhkin, G.M. MacDonald, G.H. Miller, C.J. Mock, W.W. Oswald, B.L. Otto-Bliesner, D.F. Porinchu, K. Rühland, J.P. Smol, E.J. Steig, and B.B. Wolfe (2004). Holocene Thermal Maximum in the Western Arctic (0 - 180°W);  Quaternary Science Reviews , 23, 529-560.

Eisner, W.R., Hinkel, K. M., Bockheim, J. G., and Nelson, F. E. (2003) Late-Quaternary paleoenvironmental record from a palsa-scale frost mound in arctic Alaska, Eighth International Conference on Permafrost, Zurich, 21-25 July 2003, Zurich, Switzerland. (Phillips, M., Springman, S.M., and Arenson, L.U., eds), A.A. Balkema Publishers, Lisse, p. 229-234.

Hinkel, K.M., Eisner, W. R, Bockheim, J. G., and Nelson, F. E., and Peterson, K. M., Dai, X.Y. (2003)  Spatial extent, age, and carbon stocks in drained thaw lake basins on the Barrow Peninsula, Alaska, Arctic, Alpine, and Antarctic Research, 35(3), 291-300.

Lozhkin, A.V., Trumpe, M.A., Eisner, W.R. (2003). Radiocarbon dates and palynological characteristics of peats in the Okhotsk-Kolyma drainage divide. In: "Spatial and Temporal Changes in Quaternary Environments of North East Asia" (K.V. Simakov, ed.), pp. 64-69. North East Interdisciplinary Science Research Institute, Far East Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Magadan.

Shilo, N., Lozhkin, A.V., and Eisner, W.R.(2003) First radiocarbon dates of lake level changes in northeast Russia. In Simakov, K.V. Spatial and Temporal changes in Quaternary Environments of North East Asia. NEISRI FEB RAS, Magadan.

Lozhkin, A.V., Eisner, W. R., and Trumpe, M.A. Radiocarbon dates and palynological characteristics of peats in the Okhotsk-Kolyma drainage divide.  In: Simakov, K.V. Spatial and Temporal Changes in Quaternary Environments of North East Asia. NEISRI FEB RAS, Magadan, 2003.

Shilo, N., Lozhkin, A. V., and Eisner, W. R. First radiocarbon dates of lake level changes in northeast Russia. In: Spatial and Temporal Changes in Quaternary Environments of North East Asia. NEISRI FEB RAS, Magadan, 2003.

Edwards, M.E., Anderson, P.M., Brubaker, L.B., Ager, T., Andreev, A.A., Bigelow, N.H., Cwynar, L.C., Eisner, W.R., Harrison, S.P., Hu, F.-S., Jolly, D., Lozhkin, A.V., MacDonald, G.M., Mock, C.J., Ritchie, J.C., Sher, A.V., Spear, R.W., Williams, J. and Yu, G., (2000). Pollen-based biomes for Beringia 18,000, 6000 and 0 ¹⁴C yr B.P. Journal of Biogeography 27: 521-554

Edwards, M. E., N. H. Bigelow, B. P. Finney, W. R. Eisner, “Records of aquatic pollen and sediment properties as indicators of late-Quaternary Alaskan lake levels.” Journal of Paleolimnology 24(1): 55-68, 2000.  

Edwards, M.E., Anderson, P.M., Brubaker, L.B., Ager, T., Andreev, A.A., Bigelow, N.H., Cwynar, L.C., Eisner, W.R., Harrison, S.P., Hu, F.-S., Jolly, D., Lozhkin, A.V., MacDonald, G.M., Mock, C.J., Ritchie, J.C., Sher, A.V., Spear, R.W., Williams, J. and Yu, G., Pollen-based biomes for Beringia 18000, 6000 and 0 ¹⁴C yr B.P. Journal of Biogeography 27: 521-554, 2000.

Edwards, M. E., N. H. Bigelow, B. P. Finney, W. R. Eisner, “Records of aquatic pollen and sediment properties as indicators of late-Quaternary Alaskan lake levels.” Journal of Paleolimnology 24(1): 55-68, 2000.

Eisner, W.R., Climate Change and Spatial Diversity of Vegetation during the Late Quaternary of Beringia, Netherlands Geographic Studies 252, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands, 1999. 157 pp.

Duvall, M.L, Ager, T.A., Anderson, P.M., Bartlein, P.J., Bigelow, N.H., Brigham-Grette, J., Brubaker, L.B., Cwynar, L.C., Edwards, M.E., Eisner, W.R., Elias, S.A., Finney, B.P., Glushkova, O.Y., Hu, F.S., Kaufman, D.S., Lohzkin, A.V., Mock, C.J., Trumpe, M.A., and Webb, R.S., 1999. Announcement: Paleoenvironmental Atlas of Beringia presented in electronic form: Quaternary Research, v. 52, p. 270-271.

Eisner, W. R., and Peterson, K. M.. “High-resolution pollen analysis of tundra polygons  from the North Slope of Alaska.” Journal of Geophysical Research 103, 28,929-28,937, 1998.

Eisner, W. R., and Peterson, K. M. “Pollen, fungi and algae as age indicators of drained lake basins near Barrow, Alaska.” In 7th International Conference on Permafrost, Yellowknife, Canada. (A. G. Lewkowicz, and M. Allard, Eds.). Centre de etudes nordiques de l'Universite Laval, Laval, Quebec, p. 145-150, 1998.