Staff profile

I am an Associate Professor in the Geography Department. My research is focused upon reconstructing Holocene and recent sea-level changes using microfossil-based reconstruction methods, in order to answer questions of ice sheet history, crustal response to surface loading and predictions of future sea-level change in vulnerable coastal areas. I’m currently involved in research looking at sea-level changes over the last millennia in Greenland and what they can tell us about the changing mass-balance history of the Greenland Ice Sheet over the recent past and over longer timescales. I am also working on sea-level records from key locations far from the centres of former glaciation which provide information on the long-term melting histories of the large ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. My particular area of expertise is the development and application of sediment and microfossil-based methodologies (including transfer functions) in reconstructing sea-level change. These are designed to enhance accuracy and precision and to allow development of sea-level records from historically poorly studied locations such as low and high latitudes.

• Sea Level Research Unit (SLRU)
• Sea Level, Ice and Climate

• Constraining Greenland Ice Sheet Mass Balance Using Salt Marsh Sediment Sequences
• Reconstructing Ice Sheet History Using Relative Sea-Level (RSL) Observations and Modelling

• 2011: Dating mid-holocene sea level changes in the Seychelles(£4190.00 from )
• 2009: SEA-LEVEL CHANGES OVER THE PAST 10,000 YEARS(£3781.00 from British Council Manchester)
• 2007: XVII INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR QUATERNARY(£900.00 from The Royal Society)

Chapter in book

• Woodroffe, S.A. & Barlow, N.L.M. (2015). Reference water level and tidal datum. In Handbook of sea level research. Shennan, I., Long, A.J. & Horton, B.P. Wiley.
• Woodroffe, S.A. & Long, A.J. (2012). Late Quaternary Sea-level Changes in Greenland. In Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, 2nd edition. Elias, S. Elsevier.

Journal Article

• Lin, Yucheng, Whitehouse, Pippa L., Hibbert, Fiona D., Woodroffe, Sarah A., Hinestrosa, Gustavo & Webster, Jody M. (2023). Relative sea level response to mixed carbonate-siliciclastic sediment loading along the Great Barrier Reef margin. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 607: 118066.
• Puleo, Peter J.K., Masterson, Andrew L., Medeiros, Andrew S., Schellinger, Grace, Steigleder, Regan, Woodroffe, Sarah, Osburn, Magdalena R. & Axford, Yarrow (2022). Younger Dryas and early Holocene climate in south Greenland inferred from oxygen isotopes of chironomids, aquatic Moss, and Moss cellulose. Quaternary Science Reviews 296: 107810.
• Medeiros, Andrew S., Chipman, Melissa L., Francis, Donna R., Hamerlík, Ladislav, Langdon, Peter, Puleo, Peter J.K., Schellinger, Grace, Steigleder, Regan, Walker, Ian R., Woodroffe, Sarah & Axford, Yarrow (2022). A continental-scale chironomid training set for reconstructing Arctic temperatures. Quaternary Science Reviews 294: 107728.
• Kjær, Kurt H., Bjørk, Anders A., Kjeldsen, Kristian K., Hansen, Eric S., Andresen, Camilla S., Siggaard-Andersen, Marie-Louise, Khan, Shfaqat A., Søndergaard, Anne Sofie, Colgan, William, Schomacker, Anders, Woodroffe, Sarah, Funder, Svend, Rouillard, Alexandra, Jensen, Jens Fog & Larsen, Nicolaj K. (2022). Glacier response to the Little Ice Age during the Neoglacial cooling in Greenland. Earth-Science Reviews 227: 103984.
• Sefton, Juliet, Woodroffe, Sarah, Ascough, Philippa & Khan, Nicole (2022). Reliability of mangrove radiocarbon chronologies: A case study from Mahé, Seychelles. The Holocene 32(6): 529-542.
• Pizer, Charlotte, Clark, Kate, Howarth, Jamie, Garrett, Ed, Wang, Xiaoming, Rhoades, David & Woodroffe, Sarah (2021). Paleotsunamis on the Southern Hikurangi Subduction Zone, New Zealand, Show Regular Recurrence of Large Subduction Earthquakes. The Seismic Record 1(2): 75-84.
• Lin, Y., Hibbert, F., Whitehouse, P., Woodroffe, S., Purcell, A., Shennan, I. & Bradley, S. (2021). A reconciled solution of Meltwater Pulse 1A sources using sea-level fingerprinting. Nature Communications 12: 2015.
• Sefton, J.P. & Woodroffe, S.A. (2021). Assessing the use of mangrove pollen as a quantitative sea‐level indicator on Mahé, Seychelles. Journal of Quaternary Science 36(2): 311-323.
• Medeiros, Andrew S., Milošević, Đurađ, Francis, Donna R., Maddison, Eleanor, Woodroffe, Sarah, Long, Antony, Walker, Ian R., Hamerlík, Ladislav, Quinlan, Roberto, Langdon, Peter, Brodersen, Klaus P. & Axford, Yarrow (2021). Arctic chironomids of the northwest North Atlantic reflect environmental and biogeographic gradients. Journal of Biogeography 48(3): 511-525.
• Larocca, Laura J., Axford, Yarrow, Woodroffe, Sarah A., Lasher, G. Everett & Gawin, Barbara (2020). Holocene glacier and ice cap fluctuations in southwest Greenland inferred from two lake records. Quaternary Science Reviews 246: 106529.
• Steffen, Rebekka, Steffen, Holger, Weiss, Robert, Lecavalier, Benoit S., Milne, Glenn A., Woodroffe, Sarah A. & Bennike, Ole (2020). Early Holocene Greenland-ice mass loss likely triggered earthquakes and tsunami. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 546: 116443.
• Søndergaard, A.S. Larsen, N.K. Olsen, J. Strunk, A. & Woodroffe, S.A. (2019). Glacial history of the Greenland Ice Sheet and a local ice cap in Qaanaaq, northwest Greenland. Journal of Quaternary Science 34(7): 536-547.
• Johnson, J.A., Perry, C.T., Smithers, S.G., Morgan, K.M. & Woodroffe, S.A. (2019). Reef shallowing is a critical control on benthic foraminiferal assemblage composition on nearshore turbid coral reefs. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 533: 109240.
• Barlow, N.L.M., McClymont, E.L., Whitehouse, P.L., Stokes, C.R., Jamieson, S.S.R., Woodroffe, S.A., Bentley, M.J., Callard, S.L., Ó Cofaigh, C., Evans, D.J.A., Horrocks, J.R., Lloyd, J.M., Long, A.J., Margold, M., Roberts, D.H. & Sanchez-Montes, M.L. (2018). Lack of evidence for a substantial sea-level fluctuation within the Last Interglacial. Nature Geoscience 11: 627-634.
• Swindles, Graeme T., Galloway, Jennifer M., Macumber, Andrew L., Croudace, Ian, Emery, Andy R., Woulds, Clare, Bateman, Mark D., Parry, Lauren, Jones, Julie M., Selby, Katherine, Rushby, Greg T., Baird, Andy J., Woodroffe, Sarah A. & Barlow, Natasha L.M. (2018). Sedimentary records of coastal storm surges: Evidence of the 1953 North Sea event. Marine Geology 403: 262-270.
• Woodroffe, S. A., Long, A. J., Milne, G. A., Bryant, C. L. & Thomas, A. (2015). New constraints on late Holocene eustatic sea-level changes from Mahé, Seychelles. Quaternary Science Reviews 115: 1-16.
• Woodroffe, S. A., Long, A.J., Punwong, P., Selby, K., Bryant, C. L. & Marchant, R. (2015). Radiocarbon dating of mangrove sediments to constrain Holocene relative sea-level change on Zanzibar in the Southwest Indian Ocean. The Holocene 25(5): 820-831.
• Garrett, E., Shennan, I., Woodroffe, S.A., Cisternas, M., Hocking, E.P. & Gulliver, P. (2015). Reconstructing paleoseismic deformation, 2: 1000 years of great earthquakes at Chucalén, south central Chile. Quaternary Science Reviews 113: 112-122.
• Lecavalier, B.S., Milne, G.A., Simpson, M.J.R., Wake, L., Huybrechts, P., Tarasov, L., Kjeldsen, K.K., Funder, S.V., Long, A.J., Woodroffe, S.A., Dyke, A.S. & Larsen, N.K. (2014). A model of Greenland ice sheet deglaciation constrained by observations of relative sea level and ice extent. Quaternary Science Reviews 102: 54-84.
• Woodroffe, S.A., Long, A.J., Lecavalier, B. S., Milne, G.A. & Bryant, C.L. (2014). Using relative sea-level data to constrain the deglacial and Holocene history of southern Greenland. Quaternary Science Reviews 92: 345-356.
• Barlow, N.L.M., Shennan, I., Long, A.J., Gehrels, W.R., Saher, M.H, Woodroffe, S.A. & Hillier, C. (2013). Salt marshes as late Holocene tide gauges. Global and Planetary Change 106: 90-110.
• Garrett, E., Shennan, I., Watcham, E.P. & Woodroffe, S.A. (2013). Reconstructing paleoseismic deformation, 1: modern analogues from the 1960 and 2010 Chilean great earthquakes. Quaternary Science Reviews 75: 11-21.
• Wake, L.M., Milne, G.A., Long, A.J., Woodroffe, S.A., Simpson, M.J.R. & Huybrechts, P. (2012). Century-scale relative sea-level changes in West Greenland — A plausibility study to assess contributions from the cryosphere and the ocean. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 315-316: 86-93.
• Brain, M.J., Long, A.J, Woodroffe, S.A., Petley, D.N., Milledge, D.G. & Parnell, A.C. (2012). Modelling the effects of sediment compaction on salt marsh reconstructions of recent sea-level rise. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 345-348: 180-193.
• Long, A.J., Woodroffe, S.A., Milne, G. A., Bryant, C.L., Simpson, M.J.R. & Wake, L.M. (2012). Relative sea-level change in Greenland during the last 700 years and ice sheet response to the Little Ice Age. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 315-316: 76-85.
• Long, A.J., Woodroffe, S.A., Roberts, D.H. & Dawson, S. (2011). Isolation basins, sea-level changes and the Holocene history of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Quaternary Science Reviews 30(27-28): 3748-3768.
• Long, A.J., Woodroffe, S.A., Milne, G.A., Bryant, C.L. & Wake, L.M. (2010). Relative sea level change in west Greenland during the last millennium. Quaternary Science Reviews 29(3-4): 367-383.
• Woodroffe, S.A. & Long, A.J. (2010). Reconstructing recent relative sea-level changes in West Greenland: local diatom-based transfer functions are superior to regional models. Quaternary International 222(1-2): 91-103.
• Woodroffe, S.A. & Long, A.J. (2009). Salt marshes as archives of recent relative sea-level change in West Greenland. Quaternary Science Reviews 28(17-18): 1750-1761.
• Long, A.J., Woodroffe, S.A., Dawson, S., Roberts, D.H. & Bryant, L.M. (2009). Late Holocene relative sea level rise and the Neoglacial history of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Jounal of Quaternary Science 24(4): 345-359.
• Woodroffe, S.A. (2009). Recognising subtidal foraminiferal assemblages: implications for quantitative sea-level reconstructions using a foraminifera-based transfer function. Journal of Quaternary Science 24(3): 215-223.
• Woodroffe, S.A. (2009). Testing models of mid to late Holocene sea-level change, North Queensland, Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews 28(23-24): 2474-2488.
• Horton, B. P., Whittaker, J. E., Thomson, K. H., Hardbattle, M. I. J., Kemp, A., Woodroffe, S. A. & Wright, M. R. (2005). The development of a modern foraminiferal data set for sea-level reconstructions, Wakatobi Marine National Park, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Journal of Foraminiferal Research 35(1): 1-14.
• Woodroffe, S.A., Horton, B.P., Larcombe.P.E. & Whittaker, J.E. (2005). Intertidal mangrove foraminifera from the central Great Barrier Reef shelf, Australia: Implications for sea-level reconstruction. Journal of Foraminiferal Research 35(3): 259-270.
• Woodroffe, S.A. & Horton, B.P. (2005). Holocene sea-level changes in the Indo-Pacific. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 25(1): 29-43.
• Horton, B. P., Larcombe, P., Woodroffe, S. A., Whittaker, J. E., Wright, M. R. & Wynn, C. (2003). Contemporary foraminiferal distributions of the Great Barrier Reef coastline, Australia: implications for sea-level reconstructions. Marine Geology 198: 225-243.