Dr. André Pellerin

André Pellerin received his PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences from McGill University. He completed his first postdoc at Aarhus University, Denmark, with a world expert on biogeochemical processes in the seabed. Dr. Pellerin organized scientific cruises, becoming adept at successfully coring (sampling) the seafloor. He developed approaches to model biogeochemical processes in marine sediments. He uses both skills for his postdoc in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Scientists are concerned that the sudden collapse of thawing soils in the Arctic could double the warming resulting from the release of natural methane, a highly important greenhouse gas. Dr. Pellerin investigates the release of methane from the warming tundra into the atmosphere and its consequences on the Earth’s climate.

He will travel to Alaska to measure methane fluxes and core the sediment of thermokarst lakes (lakes formed from the melting of ground ice in a region underlain by permafrost). From these measurements and samples, he hopes to develop mathematical models to predict future methane flux.