Research interest:

Study of past climatic variability with particular focus on past rapid changes (centennial-millenial time scales). One of her main areas of research is the Mediterranean region with particular focuss on the linkages between marine and atmospheric processes. Other areas of interest are the Atlantic Ocean and also the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean. Experience in the analyses of trace elements and stable isotopes (d18O and d13C) in carbonate microfossils and also in the measurement of organic biomarkers (alkenones, alkenes and alcohols) for paleoceanographical reconstructions in combination to other sedimentological and geochemical tools.

 

Selected publications from Isabel Cacho

 

The 10 most cited papers:

Cacho, I., Grimalt, J.O., Pelejero, C., Canals, M., Sierro, F.J., Flores, J.A. and Shackleton, N.J. (1999). Dansgaard-Oeschger and Heinrich events imprints in the Alboran Sea paleotemperature record. Paleoceanography 14: 698-705.

 

Cacho, I., Grimalt, J. O., Canals M., Sbaffi L., Shackleton N. J., Schönfeld J., and Zahn R. (2001). Variability of the western Mediterranean Sea surface temperatures during the last 25,000 years and its connection with the northern hemisphere climatic changes. Paleoceanography. 16(1): 40-52.

 

Martrat, B.;  J.O. Grimalt, C. Lopez-Martinez, I. Cacho, F.J. Sierro, J.A. Flores, R. Zahn, M. Canals, J.H. Curtis and D.A. Hodell. Abrupt temperature changes in the western Mediterranean over the past 250,000 years. Science 306, 1762-1765 (2004).

 

Sánchez Goñi, M.F., Cacho, I., Turon, J.L., Guiot, J., Sierro, F.J., Peypouquet, J.-P., Grimalt, J.O. and Shackleton, N.J. (2002). Synchroneity between marine and terrestrial responses to millennial scale climatic variability during the last glacial period in the Mediterranean region, Climate Dynamics 19: 95-105.

 

Cacho, I., Grimalt, J. O., Sierro F. J., Shackleton N. J., and Canals M. (2000). Evidence of enhanced Mediterranean thermohaline circulation during rapid climatic coolings. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 183: 417-429.

 

Marchal, O., Cacho, I., Stocker, T.F., Grimalt, J.O., Calvo, E., Martrat, B., Shackleton, N.J., Vautravers, M., Cortijo, E., van Kreveld, S.A., Andersson, C., Koç, N., Chapman, M.R., Sbaffi, L., Duplessy, J.C., Sarnthein, M., Turon, J.L., Duprat, J. and Jansen, E. (2002). Apparent long-term cooling of the sea surface in the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean during the Holocene. Quaternary Science Reviews 21: 455-483.

 

Moreno, A., Cacho, I., Canals, M., Prins, M.A., Sánchez Goñi, M.F., Grimalt, J.O. and Weltje, G.J. (2002). Saharan dust transport and high-latitude glacial climatic variability: the Alboran Sea record. Quaternary Research 58: 318-328.

 

Barker, S., Cacho, I., Benway, H. and Tachikawa, K., 2005. Planktonic foraminiferal Mg/Ca as a proxy for past oceanic temperatures: A methodological overview and data compilation for the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews, 27: 821-834.

 

MARGO Project Members (including I. Cacho). 2009. Constraints on the magnitude and patterns of ocean cooling at the Last Glacial Maximum. Nature Geoscience 2:127-132

 

Moreno, A., Cacho, I., Canals, M., Grimalt, J.O., Sánchez-Goñi, M.F., Shackleton, N. and Sierro, F.J., 2005. Links between marine and atmospheric processes oscillating at millennial time-scale. A multy-proxy study of the last 50,000 yr from the Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean Sea). Quaternary Science Reviews. 24, 1623-1636

 

Other selected manuscripts:

 

2014

Moreno, A., C. Sancho, M. Bartolome, B. Oliva, A. Delgado-Huertas, M.J. Estrela, D. Corell, J.I. López-Moreno, I. Cacho, H. Stoll. Climate controls on rainfall isotopes and their effects on cave drip water and speleothem growth: the case of Molinos cave (Teruel, NE Spain). Climate Dynamicas (2014). oi:10.1007/s00382-014-2140-6)

 

2013

Pena, L.D.; S.L. Goldstein; S.R. Hemming; K.M. Jones; E. Calvo; C. Pelejero; I. Cacho., 2013. Rapid Changes in Meridional Advection of Southern Ocean Intermediate Waters on the Tropical Pacific During the Last 30 kyr. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 368, 20-32.

 

Hernández-Almeida, I., Sierro, F. J., Flores, J.-A., Cacho, I., & Filippelli, G. M. (2013). Palaeoceanographic changes in the North Atlantic during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MIS 31–19) as inferred from planktonic foraminiferal and calcium carbonate records. Boreas, 42(1), 140–159. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3885.2012.00283.x

 

2012

Yu, P.-S., Kienast, M., Chen, M.-T., Cacho, I., Flores, J. A., Mohtadi, M., and Mix, A. C., 2012. Influences of extratropical water masses on equatorial Pacific cold tongue variability during the past 160 ka as revealed by faunal evidence of planktic foraminifers. J. Quat. Sc. 27, 921-931.

 

Kandiano, E. S., Bauch, H. A., Fahl, K., Helmke, J. P., Rohl, U., Perez-Folgado, M., and Cacho, I. 2012. The meridional temperature gradient in the eastern North Atlantic during MIS 11 and its link to the ocean-atmosphere system. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 333, 24-39,  2012. 

 

Hernandez-Almeida, I., Sierro, F. J., Cacho, I., and Flores, J. A.,2012. Impact of suborbital climate changes in the North Atlantic on ice sheet dynamics at the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. Paleoceanography, 2012, PA3214, 14., doi:10.1029/2011PA002209.

 

Frigola, J., Canals, M., Cacho, I., Moreno, A., Sierro, F. J., Flores, J. A., Berne, S., Jouet, G., Dennielou, B., Herrera, G., Pasqual, C., Grimalt, J. O., Galavazi, M., and Schneider, R. 2012.  A 500 kyr record of global sea-level oscillations in the Gulf of Lion, Mediterranean Sea: new insights into MIS 3 sea-level variability. Climate of the Past 8, 1067-1077,  2012.

 

Panieri, G., Camerlenghi, A., Cacho, I., Cervera, C. S., Canals, M., Lafuerza, S., and Herrera, G. 2012. Tracing seafloor methane emissions with benthic foraminifera: Results from the Ana submarine landslide (Eivissa Channel, Western Mediterranean Sea). Marine Geology 291-294, 97-112, 2012.

 

Moreno, A., Pérez, A., Frigola, J., Nieto-Moreno, V., Rodrigo-Gémiz, M., Martrat, B., González-Sampériz, P. l., Morellón, M., Martín-Puertas, C., Corella, J. P., Belmonte, Å., Sancho, C., Cacho, I., Herrera, G., Canals, M., Grimalt, J. O., Jiménez-Espejo, F., Martínez-Ruiz, F., Vegas-Vilarríbia, T., and Valero-Garcés, B. L., 2012. The Medieval Climate Anomaly in the Iberian Peninsula reconstructed from marine and lake records. Quaternary Science Reviews. 43, 16-32.  2012.

 

2011

Alonso-Garcia, M., F. J. Sierro, M. Kucera, J. A. Flores, I. Cacho, and N. Andersen. 2011. Ocean circulation, ice sheet growth and interhemispheric coupling of millennial climate variability during the mid-Pleistocene (ca 800e400 ka). Quaternary Science Reviews 30: 3234.

 

Calvo, E., C. Pelejero, L. D. Pena, I. Cacho, and G. A. Logan. 2011. Eastern Equatorial Pacific productivity and related-CO2 changes since the last glacial period. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108:5537-5541

 

Hernández-Almeida, I., K. R. Bjorklund, F. J. Sierro, G. M. Filippelli, I. Cacho, and J. A. Flores. 2011. A high resolution opal and radiolarian record from the subpolar North Atlantic during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (1069–779 ka): Palaeoceanographic implications. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology:doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2011.1005.1049. 

 

2010

Ferretti, P., S. J. Crowhurst, M. A. Hall, and I. Cacho. 2010. North Atlantic millennial-scale climate variability 910 to 790 ka and the role of the equatorial insolation forcing. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 293:28.

 

Moreno, A., H. Stoll, M. Jiménez-Sánchez, I. Cacho, B. Valero-Garcés, E. Ito, and R. L. Edwards. 2010. A speleothem record of glacial (25-11.6 kyr BP) rapid climatic changes from northern Iberian Peninsula. Global and Planetary Change 71:218.

 

Martínez-Méndez, G., R. Zahn, I. R. Hall, F. J. C. Peeters, L. D. Pena, I. Cacho, and C. Negre (2010), Contrasting multi-proxy reconstructions of surface ocean hydrography in the Agulhas Corridor and implications for the Agulhas Leakage during the last 345,000 years, Paleoceanography, doi:10.1029/2009PA001879. 

 

Rogerson, M., E. Colmenero-Hidalgo, R. C. Levine, E. J. Rohling, A. H. L. Voelker, G. R. Bigg, J. Schönfeld, I. Cacho, F. J. Sierro, L. Löwemark, M. I. Reguera, L. de Abreu, and K. Garrick (2010), Enhanced Mediterranean-Atlantic exchange during Atlantic freshening phases, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 11, Q08013

 

2009

Pichevin, L. E., B. C. Reynolds, R. S. Ganeshram, I. Cacho, L. Pena, K. Keefe, and R. M. Ellam. 2009. Enhanced carbon pump inferred from relaxation of nutrient limitation in the glacial ocean. Nature 459:1114-1118.

 

Panieri, G., A. Camerlenghi, S. Conti, G. A. Pini, and I. Cacho. 2009. Methane seepages recorded in benthic foraminifera from Miocene seep carbonates, Northern Apennines (Italy). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 284:271.

 

Robinson, R. S., P. Martinez, L. D. Pena, and I. Cacho. 2009. Nitrogen isotopic evidence for deglacial changes in nutrient supply in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Paleoceanography 24:doi:10.1029/2008PA001702.

 

Eynaud, F., L. c. de Abreu, A. Voelker, J. Schönfeld, E. Salgueiro, J.-L. Turon, A. l. Penaud, S. Toucanne, F. Naughton, M. F. Sánchez Goñi, B. Malaizé, and I. Cacho (2009), Position of the Polar Front along the western Iberian margin during key cold episodes of the last 45 ka, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 10, Q07U05, doi:10.1029/2009GC002398.

 

López-Otálvaro, G.-E., J. A. Flores, F. J. Sierro, I. Cacho, J.-O. Grimalt, E. Michel, E. Cortijo, and L. Labeyrie (2009), Late Pleistocene palaeoproductivity patterns during the last climatic cycle in the Guyana Basin as revealed by calcareous nannoplankton, eEarth, 4, 1-13.

 

Sanchez Goñi, M. F., A. Landais, I. Cacho, J. Duprat, and L. Rossignol (2009), Contrasting intrainterstadial climatic evolution between high and middle North Atlantic latitudes: A close‐up of Greenland Interstadials 8 and 12, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 10.

 

2008

Pichevin, L. E., B. C. Reynolds, R. S. Ganeshram, I. Cacho, L. Pena, K. Keefe, and R. M. Ellam. 2009. Enhanced carbon pump inferred from relaxation of nutrient limitation in the glacial ocean. Nature 459:1114-1118.

 

Panieri, G., A. Camerlenghi, S. Conti, G. A. Pini, and I. Cacho. 2009. Methane seepages recorded in benthic foraminifera from Miocene seep carbonates, Northern Apennines (Italy). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 284:271.

 

Robinson, R. S., P. Martinez, L. D. Pena, and I. Cacho. 2009. Nitrogen isotopic evidence for deglacial changes in nutrient supply in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Paleoceanography 24:doi:10.1029/2008PA001702.

 

Eynaud, F., L. c. de Abreu, A. Voelker, J. Schönfeld, E. Salgueiro, J.-L. Turon, A. l. Penaud, S. Toucanne, F. Naughton, M. F. Sánchez Goñi, B. Malaizé, and I. Cacho (2009), Position of the Polar Front along the western Iberian margin during key cold episodes of the last 45 ka, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 10, Q07U05, doi:10.1029/2009GC002398.

 

López-Otálvaro, G.-E., J. A. Flores, F. J. Sierro, I. Cacho, J.-O. Grimalt, E. Michel, E. Cortijo, and L. Labeyrie (2009), Late Pleistocene palaeoproductivity patterns during the last climatic cycle in the Guyana Basin as revealed by calcareous nannoplankton, eEarth, 4, 1-13.

 

Sanchez Goñi, M. F., A. Landais, I. Cacho, J. Duprat, and L. Rossignol (2009), Contrasting intrainterstadial climatic evolution between high and middle North Atlantic latitudes: A close‐up of Greenland Interstadials 8 and 12, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 10.

 

2007

Tzedakis P. C., Hughen K., Cacho I., and Harvati K. (2007).  Placing late Neanderthals in a climatic context. Nature 449: 206-208.

 

Frigola J., Moreno A., Cacho I., Canals M., Sierro F. J., Flores J. A., Grimalt J. O., Hodell D. A., and Curtis J. H. (2007) Holocene climate variability  in the Western Mediterranean Sea from a deep-water sediment record. Paleoceanography, v22, doi:10.1029/2006PA001307. 

 

2006

Cacho I., Shackleton N. J., Elderfield H., Sierro F. J., and Grimalt J. (2006) Glacial rapid variability in deep water temperature and  d18O from the Western Mediterranean Sea. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, p. 3294-3311. 

 

Voelker, A.H.L., Lebreiro, S.M., Schonfeld, J., Cacho, I., Erlenkeuser, H., and Abrantes, F., 2006, Mediterranean outflow strengthening during northern hemisphere coolings: A salt source for the glacial Atlantic? Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 245, p. 39-55

 

2005

Pena, L., E. Calvo, I. Cacho, S. Eggins and C. Pelejero. 2005: Identification and removal of Mn-Mg-rich contaminant phases in foraminiferal tests: Implications for Mg/Ca past temperature reconstructions. Geochemistry, Geophysics and Geosystems, 6, Q09P02, doi:10.1029/2005GC000930.

 

Sierro, F.J., D.A. Hodell, J.H. Curtis, J.A. Flores, I. Reguera, E. Colmenero-Hidalgo, M.Á. Bárcena, J. Grimalt, I. Cacho, J. Frigola and M. Canals. 2005: Impact of iceberg melting on Mediterranean thermohaline circulation during Heinrich events. Paleoceanography, 20(PA2019),  doi:10.1029/2004PA001051. 

 

2004

Moreno, A., Cacho, I., Canals, M., Grimalt, J.O. and Sánchez-Vidal, A., 2004. Millennial-scale variability in the productivity signal from the Alboran Sea record, Western Mediterranean Sea. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 211: 205-219.

 

Tzedakis, P.C., Frogley, M.R., Lawson, I.T., Preece, R.C., Cacho, I. and de Abreu, L., 2004. Ecological thresholds and patterns of millennial-scale climate variability: the response of vegetation in Greece during the last glacial. Geology, 32: 109-112. 

 

2003

Pérez-Folgado, M., Sierro, F.J., Flores, J.A., Cacho, I., Grimalt, J.O., Zahn, R. and Shackleton, N., 2003. Western Mediterranean planktonic foraminifera events and millennial climatic variability during the last 70 kyr. Marine Micropaleontology, 28: 49-70. 

 

Masqué, P., Fabrés, J., Calafat, A.M., Sánchez-Cabeza, J.A., Sànchez, A., Bruach, J.M., Cacho, I. and Canals, M. (2003). Major controls on sediment and major constituents accumulation rates in the Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean). Marine Geology, 193: 207-233.

 

2002-1999

Cacho, I., Grimalt, J.O. and Canals, M. (2002). Response of the western Mediterranean Sea to the rapid climatic variability that occurred during the last 50,000 years. A molecular biomarker approach, Journal of Marine Systems 33-34: 253-272.

 

Sbaffi, L., Wezel, F.C., Kallel, N., Paterne, M., Cacho, I., Ziveri, P. and Shackleton, N.J. (2001). Response of the pelagic environment to palaeoclimatic changes in the central Mediterranean Sea during the Late Quaternary, Marine Geology 178: 39-62.

 

Bárcena, M.A., Cacho, I., Abrantes, F., Sierro, F.J., Grimalt J.O. and Flores J.A., (2001). Paleoproductivity variations related to climatic conditions in the Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean) during the last Glacial-Interglacial transition. Diatom record, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 167, 337-357. 

 

Cacho, I., Pelejero, C., Grimalt, J.O., Canals, M. and Calafat, A. (1999). C37 alkenones measurements of sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Lions (NW Mediterranean). Organic Geochemistry 33: 557-566.