Mengyao Du

My research focuses on understanding the interactions between orbital- and millennial-scale climate variability during the late Pliocene to early Pleistocene, with particular emphasis on the intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation (iNHG; ~2.7-2.4 Ma). The iNHG represents a critical transition in the Earth’s climate system, from the relatively warm and stable climate of the mid-Pliocene to the Quaternary icehouse climate characterised by high-amplitude glacial-interglacial cycles.

Using high-resolution foraminiferal oxygen and carbon isotope records from IODP Site U1385 on the southwestern Iberian Margin, I examine the timing, magnitude and pacing of millennial-scale cooling events and glacial-interglacial cycles, and how their expression changed under evolving orbital forcing and background climate conditions.

More broadly, my research aims to constrain the forcing and feedback mechanisms that governed this major climatic transition, and to assess how long-term cooling, ice-sheet expansion, and changes in ocean circulation contributed to the reorganisation of the climate system across the Plio-Pleistocene Transition.

2023-present: PhD in Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge (Supervisor: Prof. David Hodell)

2022-2023: MPhil in Holocene Climates, University of Cambridge (Supervisor: Prof. Christine Lane)

2019-2022: BSc Geography, University College London (UCL) (Supervisor: Prof. Jonathan Holmes)