Lester Lembke-Jene

Dr. Lester Lembke-Jene is a Senior Research Scientist in the Marine Geology Section at the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), specializing in paleoceanography, marine geology, and micropaleontology. His research focuses on reconstructing past oceanographic and climatic changes in the subarctic Pacific, Southern Ocean, and Antarctic marginal seas. He employs proxy methods like foraminiferal isotopic composition to study ocean currents, carbon cycle dynamics, and environmental changes.

Key responsibilities include curating the AWI Sediment Core Repository and coordinating marine coring equipment. He leads the XRF-Scanning Lab and has contributed to projects such as the IMPAC3.5T grant investigating Pacific Southern Ocean carbon cycle impacts on climate shifts. His work spans multidisciplinary collaborations, including roles in the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and editorial boards like Discover Oceans.

Notable research interests include Antarctic Circumpolar Current dynamics, methane seeps, and operational oceanography in extreme environments. He has published extensively on topics like millennial-scale current variability, geomagnetic excursion records, and machine learning applications in sediment analysis.