Joanne Johnson

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Joanne Johnson
Born
Joanne S. Garner

1977 (age 46–47)
Marie Tharp Fellowship (2010)
Polar Medal (2023)
Scientific career
FieldsGeology
InstitutionsBritish Antarctic Survey
ThesisMagmatism of the Vitim Volcanic Field, Baikal Rift Zone, Siberia (2002)
Doctoral advisorSally A. Gibson
Websitewww.bas.ac.uk/profile/jsj

Joanne S. "Jo" Johnson

palaeoenvironments, ice sheets and climate change team[2] and is best known for her work on glacial retreat.[3] She was awarded the Polar medal in 2023.[4] The Johnson Mesa in James Ross Island, Antarctica is named in her honour.[5]

Early life and education

Johnson decided to follow a science career after enjoying studying science at

geochemical characteristics of lavas to study the composition and thickness of the lithosphere in the Baikal Rift Zone of Siberia, and to improve understanding of the melting regime beneath the region during the Cenozoic.[7]

Career and research

After her PhD, Johnson began work at

volcaniclastic rocks from James Ross Island.[8] In 2005–2009, she worked in the QWAD (Quaternary West Antarctic Deglaciation project), within the GRADES (Glacial Retreat in Antarctica and Deglaciation of the Earth System) programme at BAS, reconstructing Quaternary thinning history of Pine Island Glacier.[3] Her work showed that Pine Island Glacier thinned as rapidly 8000 years ago as it is at the present day.[9][10]

From 2015 to 2020, Johnson worked on a

Amundsen Sea Embayment, Antarctica, using high-precision exposure dating", with a team from BAS, Imperial College London, Durham University, Columbia University (USA) and Pennsylvania State University (USA).[11]
She is also working on other projects including

Some of her research has taken place in remote parts of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.[12]

Publications

Her publications[13][14][2] include:

  • Collaborating On Glacial Research[15]
  • Rapid thinning of Pine Island Glacier in the early Holocene[9]
  • Zeolite compositions as proxies for eruptive palaeoenvironment[8]
  • Volcanism in the Vitim Volcanic Field, Siberia: Geochemical Evidence for a Mantle Plume Beneath the Baikal Rift Zone[7]

Awards and honours

Johnson was awarded the

Marie Tharp Fellowship for 2010–2011.[15] The three-month fellowship allowed Johnson to collaborate with scientists at Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory with the results published in the journal Science.[9]

In January 2007 the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee named a feature on James Ross Island, Antarctica after her, in recognition of her work which led to a new proxy for recognising past ice sheets using alteration mineral chemistry. Johnson Mesa, James Ross Island, Antarctica (63° 49'40"S, 57° 55'22"W) is a large flat-topped volcanic mountain north of Abernethy Flats, between Crame Col and Bibby Point on Ulu Peninsula, James Ross Island.[17][18]

Johnson was awarded a Polar medal in the 2023 New Year's Honours list.[19]

Personal life

Johnson is married with two children (2008 and 2013):[20] She has spoken about the challenges of doubling as a scientist and mother: "The hardest thing is being torn between your personal and professional ambitions…Wanting to go to conferences, but not wanting to leave your children. Having to leave work early or drop everything if you get a phone call that she's sick. You could be in the middle of a complicated thought process and you have to start again."[15]

In August 2021, Johnson appeared on BBC1's Songs of Praise discussing her work and her Christian faith. She states that her expeditions refresh her faith and that how being in the Antarctic it is "the closest you can get to God".

References

  1. ^ "Dr Joanne Johnson - Recipient of Polar Medal!". oldeds.kehs.org.uk. King Edward VI High School for Girls. Retrieved 8 March 2024. Photo credits show use of name "Jo"
  2. ^ a b Anon (2015). "Joanne Johnson". bas.ac.uk. British Antarctic Survey. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  3. ^ .
  4. ^ "BAS staff awarded the Polar Medal". British Antarctic Survey.
  5. ^ "Johnson Mesa". Mapcarta.com. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  6. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.599321. Archived from the original
    on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  7. ^
    doi:10.1093/petrology/egi016.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  8. ^ .
  9. ^ .
  10. ^ "Millennia of Melting: New Research Confirms Antarctic Thaw Fears". spiegel.de. Der Spiegel. 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  11. ^ Johnson, Joanne. "ANiSEED – AmuNdsen Sea Embayment Exposure Dating". bas.ac.uk. British Antarctic Survey. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  12. ^ "Dr Jo Johnson: Geologist". youtube.com. YouTube.
  13. ^ Joanne Johnson publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  14. ^ a b c Joanne Johnson And Lamont–Doherty. "Collaborating on Glacial Research". Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  15. ^ British Antarctic Survey Club. "The Laws Prize". British Antarctic Survey Club. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  16. ^ "Meeting of the Antarctic Place Names Committee" (PDF). Apc.antarctica.ac.uk. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  17. ^ "Glacial landsystems on James Ross Island". Antarcticglaciers.org. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  18. ^ "Polar Medal, The London Gazette, Supplement 63924, Page 25174 December 31, 2022".
  19. ^ Byrd Land, Marie (2015). "Being a parent working in Antarctica". Bas.ac.uk. British Antarctic Survey. Retrieved 13 February 2019.