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Thompson Webb III

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Thompson Webb III
BornJanuary 1944 (age 82)
CitizenshipAmerican
EducationB.S., Swarthmore College (Botany)
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin–Madison (Meteorology)
OccupationProfessor Emeritus of Geological Sciences
Scientific career
FieldsPaleoclimatology, Paleoecology, Quaternary science

Thompson Webb III is an American paleoclimatologist and paleoecologist known for his research on past climate change and vegetation history during the late Quaternary period.[1] He served as a professor at Brown University from 1972 to 2005, then as a Professor Emeritus of Geological Sciences.[1] His work has contributed to understanding long-term climate patterns as inferred from fossil pollen data, lake-level records, and climate modeling.[1][2]

Early life and education

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Webb’s interest in paleontology and the study of the past began in 1958 when he participated in a fossil-hunting field trip across the western United States led by Raymond Alf, a teacher at the Webb Schools in Claremont, California, a school founded by Webb's grandfather.[1] In 1961, he was selected to participate in an NSF-sponsored summer science program at Michigan State University, where he added to his education about geology and fossils before enrolling as an undergraduate at Swarthmore College and earning a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in botany in 1966.[1] He later pursued graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison[1] under the direction of climate scientists, Reid Bryson[1] and John Kutzbach,[2] and received a Ph.D. in meteorology in 1971.[1] His doctoral dissertation focused on reconstructing late-Quaternary climate events in Wisconsin and Minnesota using multivariate statistical analysis to interpret fossil pollen data.[1][3]

Career

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Early career and research

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Following his doctoral studies, Webb held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan from 1970 to 1971.[1] He then worked as an assistant research paleo ecologist at the university's Great Lakes Research Division in the pollen lab directed by Margaret B. Davis, his advisor.[1] His postdoctoral research advanced the theory of pollen analysis by showing how well maps of pollen data reflected the vegetation patterns across lower Michigan.[4]

In 1972, Webb joined the Department of Geological Sciences (now the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences) at Brown University as an assistant professor.[1] During this time, he began collaborating with scientists, including John Imbrie, on studies of Quaternary climate change.[1][5]

CLIMAP and paleoclimate research

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Webb became involved in the CLIMAP (Climate: Long-Range Investigation, Mapping, and Prediction)[1] project in the early 1970s. His work added a terrestrial perspective to the project, which had previously focused mainly on ocean-based climate data. For testing the climate-model-simulations of the last gracial maximum 21,000 years ago, he and co-workers assembled a gloral data base of past vegetation and land-based climate indicators, which were then mapped and compared to the model results.[6]

COHMAP Project

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In 1977, Webb with John Kutzbach[1] at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Herbert Wright and Edward Cushing at the University of Minnesota organized the Cooperative Holocene Mapping Project (COHMAP),[7] a large international, interdisciplinary, and interinstitutional research effort. The project compared geological and biological evidence of past climates with climate-model simulations and showed how the changing atmospheric boundary-conditions of seasonal insolation and retreating ice sheets altered monsoonal and high-latitude temperature and moisture conditions, which in turn caused changes in the vegetation and lake levels. The differing changes among seasonal temperatures and moisture led to past climates much different from today which in turn led to vegetation assemblages that do not exist today.[8] Webb’s work mapping the changing plant distributions in North America [2][9][10] supported Margaret Davis’ conclusions about the differing independent migration patterns among plant taxa.

Throughout the 1980s and up to 1994, Webb helped lead annual COHMAP meetings at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to coordinate cooperation among the interdisciplinary group of students and researchers. Major findings from this project’s work were published in over 200 scientific journal articles, including Science in 1988,[11] and were later summarized in a collaborative book (1993)[12] and a special issue of Quaternary Science Reviews (1998).[11][12][13]

Later career and hurricane research

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In 1996, Webb began research on the sedimentary record of hurricanes with his then PhD. student, Jeffrey Donnelly.[14] This work focused on identifying evidence of past landfalling hurricanes from geological records going back a thousand years or more.[15]

Academic appointments

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Webb gained tenure in 1979, was promoted to full professor at Brown University in 1984[1] and continued teaching and research there until his retirement in 2005. After retiring, he enjoyed teaching middle-school students about the weather through summer and continuing studies programs at Brown until 2013.[1]

Webb held several academic and research positions throughout his career, including:

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan (1970–1971)
  • Assistant Research Paleoecologist, University of Michigan (1971–1972)
  • Assistant Professor (Research), Brown University (1972–1975) [1]
  • Associate Professor, Brown University (1975–1984) [1]
  • Professor, Brown University (1984–2005) [1]
  • Professor Emeritus, Brown University (2006– )[1]

He also held visiting and fellowship positions at institutions such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Cambridge, the University of Colorado, and Harvard University.[16]

Awards and honors

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Selected books

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  • Delcourt, P. A., H. R. Delcourt, and T. Webb III. 1984. Atlas of paired isophyte and isopoll maps for important eastern North American tree taxa. The American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists, Inc., Contribution Series No. 14, 131 pp.
  • Webb, T., III and J.-M. Dubois (eds.). 1985. Tendances climatiques l'Holocene en Amerique du Nord. Gèographie physique et Quaternaire 39, no. 2:113-226.
  • Webb, T., III. 1985. A Global Paleoclimatic Data Base for 6000 yr B.P. Final Report for DOE Contract DE-AC02-79EV10097, TRO18, Carbon Dioxide Research Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Energy Research, U.S. Dept. of Energy, Washington, D.C. (available from N.T.I.S., Springfield, VA 22161). 155 pp.
  • Huntley, B. and T. Webb III (eds.) 1988. Vegetation History. Vol. 7 in Handbook of Vegetation Science. Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht, The Netherlands, (803 p.).
  • Wright, H.E., Jr., J.E. Kutzbach, T. Webb III, W.F. Ruddiman, F.A. Street-Perrott, and P.J. Bartlein (eds.) 1993. Global Climates Since the Last Glacial Maximum. Univ. of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. (569 p.). [13]
  • Webb, T., III (ed.) 1998. Late Quaternary Climates: Data Syntheses and Model Experiments. Quaternary Science Reviews 17, Nos. 6-7: 465-688. [14]
  • Williams, J. W., B. Shuman, P. J. Bartlein, J. Whitmore, K. Gajewski, M. Sawada, T. Minckley, S. Shafer, A. E. Viau, T. Webb, III, P. M. Anderson, L. B. Brubaker, C. Whitlock, and O. K. Davis. 2006. An Atlas of Pollen-Vegetation-Climate Relationships for the United States and Canada. American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation, Dallas, TX. 293 pp.

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 "Webb, Thompson". vivo.brown.edu. Retrieved 2026-07-03.
  2. 1 2 3 Webb, Thompson; Shuman, Bryan; Williams, John W. (2003), "Climatically forced vegetation dynamics in eastern North America during the late Quaternary Period", Developments in Quaternary Sciences, Elsevier, pp. 459–478, retrieved 2026-07-03
  3. ↑ Webb, Thompson; Bryson, Reid A. "Late- and Postglacial Climatic Change in the Northern Midwest, USA: Quantitative Estimates Derived from Fossil Pollen Spectra by Multivariate Statistical Analysis". Quaternary Research. 2 (1): 70–115. doi:10.1016/0033-5894(72)90005-1. hdl:2027.42/34073. ISSN 0033-5894.
  4. ↑ Wiesmann, U. N.; DiDonato, S.; Herschkowitz, N. N. (1975-10-27). "Effect of chloroquine on cultured fibroblasts: release of lysosomal hydrolases and inhibition of their uptake". Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 66 (4): 1338–1343. doi:10.1016/0006-291x(75)90506-9. ISSN 1090-2104. PMID 4.
  5. ↑ Hendrickson, W. A.; Ward, K. B. (1975-10-27). "Atomic models for the polypeptide backbones of myohemerythrin and hemerythrin". Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 66 (4): 1349–1356. doi:10.1016/0006-291x(75)90508-2. ISSN 1090-2104. PMID 5.
  6. ↑ Peterson, G.M.; Webb, T.; Kutzbach, J. E.; van der Hammen, T.; Wijmstra, T. A.; Street, F. A. "The Continental Record of Environmental Conditions at 18,000 yr B.P.: An Initial Evaluation". Quaternary Research. 12 (1): 47–82. doi:10.1016/0033-5894(79)90091-7. ISSN 0033-5894.
  7. ↑ Webb, Thompson (2009), "COHMAP", Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments, Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 188–192, doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-4411-3_46, ISBN 978-1-4020-4411-3, retrieved 2026-07-03
  8. ↑ Williams, John W.; Shuman, Bryan N.; Webb, Thompson. "DISSIMILARITY ANALYSES OF LATE-QUATERNARY VEGETATION AND CLIMATE IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA". Ecology. 82 (12): 3346–3362. doi:10.1890/0012-9658(2001)082[3346:daolqv]2.0.co;2. ISSN 0012-9658.
  9. ↑ Williams, John W.; Shuman, Bryan N.; Webb, Thompson; Bartlein, Patrick J.; Leduc, Phillip L. "LATE‐QUATERNARY VEGETATION DYNAMICS IN NORTH AMERICA: SCALING FROM TAXA TO BIOMES". Ecological Monographs. 74 (2): 309–334. doi:10.1890/02-4045. ISSN 0012-9615.
  10. ↑ Webb, Thompson (1986-10-01). "Is vegetation in equilibrium with climate? How to interpret late-Quaternary pollen data". Vegetatio. 67 (2): 75–91. doi:10.1007/BF00037359. ISSN 0042-3106.
  11. 1 2 "Climatic Changes of the Last 18,000 Years: Observations and Model Simulations". Science. 241 (4869): 1043–1052. 1988-08-26. doi:10.1126/science.241.4869.1043. ISSN 0036-8075.
  12. 1 2 Kutzbach, J. E.; Bartlein, P.J.; Prentice, I. C.; Ruddiman, W. F.; Street-Perrott, F. A.; Iii, T. Webb; Wright, H.E; Jr. (2010-01-25), "20. Epilogue", Global Climates, University of Minnesota Press, pp. 536–542, ISBN 978-0-8166-8462-5, retrieved 2026-07-03
  13. ↑ Webb III, Thompson; Kutzbach, John E. "An introduction to 'Late Quaternary climates". Quaternary Science Reviews. 17 (6–7): 465–471. doi:10.1016/s0277-3791(98)00008-0. ISSN 0277-3791.
  14. ↑ "When the wind blows". New Scientist. Retrieved 2026-07-03.
  15. ↑ Joyce, Robert (2007-05-16). "Review: hurricanes and typhoons past, present, and future, Richard J. Murnane and Kam‐Biu Liu, Columbia University Press, New York, No. of Pages: 462. ISBN 0‐231‐12388‐4". International Journal of Climatology. 27 (7): 977–978. doi:10.1002/joc.1446. ISSN 0899-8418.
  16. 1 2 "Henry J. Oosting Memorial Lecture". Duke University Program in Ecology. 2019-02-05. Retrieved 2026-07-03.
  17. ↑ "Ermine Cowles Case Memorial Lecture | U-M LSA Museum of Paleontology". lsa.umich.edu. Retrieved 2026-07-03.
  18. ↑ "William S. Cooper Award – History Committee | Ecological Society of America". esa.org. Retrieved 2026-07-03.
  19. ↑ "AMQUA - Distinguished Career". www.amqua.org. Retrieved 2026-07-03.
  20. ↑ "Joseph B. Shane '25 Alumni Service Award Winners :: Alumni Resources & Events :: Swarthmore College". www.swarthmore.edu. Retrieved 2026-07-03.
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