International  Center  for  Isotope  Effects  Research

Nanjing University

Alexis Lamothe


Position: Post-Doc
Office: E-201
E-mail: lamothe@cerege.fr

 

Reasearch interest: 

My research focuses on the use of stable and cosmogenic isotopes to investigate atmospheric processes and climate variability recorded in ice cores. My expertise is mainly in isotope geochemistry applied to aerosols, snow, and ice, with particular interest in the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere, source apportionment of reactive nitrogen and organic compounds, and long-term interactions between climate, atmospheric chemistry, and the Earth system (such as geomagnetic field).

During my postdoctoral research at CEREGE (France), I worked within the Beyond EPICA project, where I studied cosmogenic isotopes (10Be, 36Cl) applied to paleomagnetism and age model.

At ICIER, the idea is to work on Δ17O in secondary organic aerosols to investigate the oxidation of volatile organic compounds and their climatic implications.

Education

Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Sciences, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France, 2020 – 2024

Thesis: Isotopic Analysis of Ammonium and Nitrate from the Ice Memory Core at Col du Dôme (Mont Blanc): Two Sentinels of Atmospheric Changes in Western Europe over the Last Century

Supervisors: Dr. Joël Savarino, Dr. Patrick Ginot

 

Engineering Degree, Master’s Degree, and Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry, École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier (ENSCM), France, 2017 – 2020

Major: Organic and Analytical Chemistry

Erasmus Exchange Programme: University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

 

Publication

Published

7）Albertin et al., Aerosol, Clouds and Particles: General Discussion, Faraday Discussions, 2025

6）Amann et al., Snow and Ice: General Discussion, Faraday Discussions, 2025

5）Wei, Hattori, Tsuruta, Yoshida, Fujta, Matoba, Ishino, Jiang, Geng, Savarino, Lamothe, Uemura, Iizuka, A 60-year atmospheric nitrate isotope record from a Southeast Greenland ice core with minimal post-depositional alteration, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 2025

4）Albertin, Bekki, Savarino, Richard, Brett, Caillon, Lamothe, et al.: Investigating sources and chemistry of nitrogen oxides in a polar urban environment: an isotopic survey during the 2022 ALPACA campaign. Recently accepted for publication in J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 2024

3）Laize-Générat, Soussaintjean, Poch, Bonala, Savarino, Caillon, Ginot, Vella, Lamothe, et al.: Nitrogen in the Orgueil meteorite: abundant ammonium among other reservoirs of variable isotopic compositions. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta., 2024

2）Lamothe, Savarino, Ginot, Soussaintjean, Gautier, Akers, Caillon, Erbland, An extraction method for isotopic ammonium analysis in ice cores. Atmos. Meas. Tech., 2023

1）Neubauer, Kantnerová, Lamothe, Savarino, Hilkert, Juchelka, Hinrichs, Elvert, Heuer, Elsner, Bakkour, Julien, Öztoprak, Schouten, Hattori, Dittmar, Discovering Nature’s Fingerprints: Isotope Ratio Analysis on Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometers, J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom, 2023

 

In review

  • Lamothe, Walters, Akers, Ginot, Albertin, Caillon, Eichler, Gilbert, Gautier, Darfeuil, Jager, Savarino, 1000-year NH3 Inventory in Europe: Uncovering Combustion's Recent Share. In transfer in Nature’s group after reviews.

  • Lamothe, Akers, Albertin, Ginot, Caillon, Gautier, Darfeuil, Hattori, Savarino, 1000 years of Nitrogen Oxide Sources in Western Europe: Evidence from Nitrate Stable Isotopes (δ15N(NO3-)) in a Mont Blanc Ice Core. In review in J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos. 

  • Ice Core Young Scientists (Lamothe et al.), Frozen Archives, Heated Debate: Ice Core Science in a Decarbonizing World. Opinion paper in revision in Nature Geoscience 

  • Lamothe, Bard, Thouveny, Auriol, Severi, Traversi, De Angelis, Wilhelms, Mulvaney, Zaidi, Aumaitre, Keddadouche, Baroni, Atmospheric 10Be from Talos Dome (East Antarctic) ice core records geomagnetic dipole intensity from 170 to 270 ka BP. In review in Geochronology

 

In prep papers

  • Lamothe, Hattori, Albertin, Akers, Barbero, Ginot, Takeuchi, Lin, Savarino: 20th-century contribution of snow nitrate photolysis to NOx emissions in the Northern Hemisphere. To be submitted to P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA.

  • Lamothe, Landèche, Vella, Burgay, Riva, Baroni, Jaffrezo, Savarino, Ginot: Monoterpene ageing recorded in Mont-Blanc ice core. To be submitted to Environ. Sci.: Atmos.

  • Lamothe, Ardoin, Crotti, Aster Team, Auriol, Baccolo, Bard, Becagli, Bouchet, Casado, de Angelis, Delmonte, Fischer, Fourré, Frezzotti, Fripiat, Ginot, Harris Stuart, Hubart, Kappelt, Krauss, Landais, Legrain , Montagnat, Mulvaney, Nardin, Orsi, Parrenin, Pattyn, Severi, Soussaintjean, Stenni, Tison, Traversi, Wilhelms, Baroni: Multi-proxy reassessment of signal preservation and climatic interpretation in the deep Talos Dome core. To be submitted to The Cryosphere.

 

Projects

Yuxiu Young Scholars Program