Edouard Bard is the author of more than 200 articles in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, as well as some thirty popular articles (some available for download[5]) and books intended for the general public, including L'Homme et le climat, Découvertes Gallimard, 2005[6] and director-author of L'Homme face au climat, Odile Jacob, 2006[7] and L'Océan, le climat et nous: un équilibre fragile ?, Le Pommier & Universcience, 2011.[8]
In 2011 and 2012, he was scientific curator of the exhibition "L'océan, le climat et nous" at the Cité des sciences et de l'industrie de la Villette in Paris.[8]
Since 2004, Edouard Bard has organized numerous symposia and symposia at the Collège de France on climate and ocean change, some of which are widely open to the general public and politicians, such as "L'Homme face au climat" in 2004,[7] "Closing the Fourth International Polar Year" in 2009 in partnership with the Senate,[9] "Arctic : the major scientific challenges" in 2012 in partnership with the Arctic Workshop,[10] "Climate, energy and society: the Collège de France and COP21" in 2015 with the participation of the President of the Republic, François Hollande.[11]
Edouard Bard's scientific work is at the interface of climatology, oceanography and geology. Its main objective is to understand the natural functioning of the ocean-atmosphere-cryosphere-biosphere system on time scales ranging from a few centuries to several million years. Better documenting these changes, accurately dating them, understanding their mechanisms and modelling them are important tasks in projects to predict future climate change.
For his research, Edouard Bard uses analytical chemistry techniques to determine the magnitude and chronology of climate variations. New quantitative methods have allowed him to reconstruct past environments from various archives such as marine and lake sediments, corals, stalagmites and polar ice. The common thread is the desire to study the same climatic phenomena, such as glaciations, using complementary and often innovative geochemical techniques. To study the climate of the past, he uses "time machines" - sophisticated mass spectrometers to measure radioactive isotopes and date climate variations recorded in geological archives. Another feature of his research is a back and forth between studies of past and recent periods, as well as current environments. Since variations in the climate system involve mechanisms with very different time constants, it is indeed crucial to have a long-term perspective in order to be able to distinguish the effects of climate forcings according to their geological, astronomical and anthropogenic origins.
Edouard Bard's main scientific contributions concern the following topics: the diffusion of radiocarbon-labelled carbon dioxide in the ocean (first measurements in accelerator mass spectrometry,[14][15] variations in surface ocean temperature using organic, isotopic and elemental geochemistry indicators,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22] the dating of fossil corals by mass spectrometry of uranium and thorium to reconstruct sea level variations and to study the history of ice caps,[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] the innovative use of radiocarbon as a tracer of CO2 exchanges at the ocean-atmosphere interface,[32][33] the calibration of the radiocarbon dating method and the use of other cosmogenic nuclides such as beryllium 10 to reconstruct solar activity in the past, as well as variations in the geomagnetic field and the global carbon cycle.[34][35][36][37][38][39][40]
A more detailed description of Edouard Bard's research is available on the GEOMAR Kiel website (Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research) published as part of the Petersen Foundation's 2013 Award of Excellence.[41]
^Bard E, Rostek F, Sonzogni C. Interhemispheric synchrony of the last deglaciation inferred from alkenone palaeothermometry. Nature 385, 707-710 (1997).
^Bard E, Arnold M, Maurice P, Duplessy JC. Bomb radiocarbon in the ocean by means of accelerator mass spectrometry: technical aspect. Nuclear Instruments and Methods B 29, 297-301 (1987).
^Bard E, Arnold M, Östlund HG, Maurice P, Monfray P, Duplessy JC. Penetration of bomb radiocarbon in the tropical Indian ocean by means of accelerator mass spectrometry. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 87, 379-389 (1988).
^Bard E, Arnold M, Maurice P, Duprat J, Moyes J, Duplessy JC. Retreat velocity of the North-Atlantic polar front during the last deglaciation determined by 14C accelerator mass spectrometry. Nature 328, 791-794 (1987).
^Rostek F, Ruhland G, Bassinot F, Müller PJ, Labeyrie L, Lancelot Y, Bard E. Reconstructing sea surface temperature and salinity using d18O and alkenone records. Nature 364, 319-321 (1993).
^Bard E, Rostek F, Turon J-L, Gendreau S. Hydrological impact of Heinrich events in the subtropical northeast Atlantic. Science 289, 1321-1324 + 2 p. suppl. (2000).
^Bard E. Climate shock: Abrupt changes over millennial time scales. Physics Today 55 (12), 32-38, (2002).
^Leduc G, Vidal L, Tachikawa K, Rostek F, Sonzogni C, Beaufort L, Bard E. Moisture transport across Central America as a positive feedback on abrupt climatic changes. Nature 445, 908-911 + 25 p. suppl. (2007).
^Bard E, Rickaby R. Migration of the Subtropical Front as a modulator of glacial climate. Nature 406, 380-383 + 10 p. suppl. (2009).
^Bard E, Hamelin B, Fairbanks RG. U/Th ages obtained by mass spectrometry in corals from Barbados. Sea level during the past 130,000 years. Nature 346, 456-458 (1990)
^Bard E, Hamelin B, Arnold M, Montaggioni L, Cabioch G, Faure G, Rougerie F. Deglacial sea level record from Tahiti corals and the timing of meltwater discharge. Nature 382, 241-244+ 2 p. suppl. (1996).
^Lambeck K, Bard E. Sea-level change along the French Mediterranean coast since the time of the Last Glacial Maximum. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 175, 202-222 (2000).
^Mix AC, Bard E, Schneider RR. Environmental Processes of the Ice age: Land, Oceans, Glaciers (EPILOG). Quaternary Science Reviews 20, 627-657, (2001).
^Bard E, Antonioli F, Silenzi S. Sea-level during the penultimate interglacial period based on a submerged stalagmite from Argentarola Cave (Italy). Earth and Planetary Science Letters 196, 135-146 (2002).
^Ménot G, Bard E, Rostek F, Weijers JWH, Hopmans EC, Schouten S, Sinninghe Damsté JS. Early reactivation of European rivers during the last deglaciation. Science 313, 1623-1625 + 6 p. suppl. (2006).
^Bard E, Hamelin B, Delanghe-Sabatier D. Deglacial melt water pulse 1B and Younger Dryas sea-levels revisited with new onshore boreholes at Tahiti. Science 327, 1235-1237 + 15 p. suppl. (2010).
^Deschamps P, Durand N, Bard E, Hamelin B, Camoin G, Thomas AL, Henderson GM, Okuno J, Yokoyama Y. Ice sheet collapse and sea-level rise at the Bølling warming 14,600 yr ago. Nature 483, 559-564, + 35 p. suppl. (2012).
^Soulet G, Ménot G, Bayon G, Rostek F, Ponzevera, Toucanne S, Lericolais G, Bard E. Abrupt drainage cycles of the Fennoscandian Ice sheet. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110 (17), 6682-6687, + 4 p. suppl. & 4 Tables (2013).
^Bard E. Correction of accelerator mass spectrometry 14C ages measured in planktonic foraminifera: Paleoceanographic implications. Paleoceanography 3, 635-645 (1988).
^Bard E, Arnold M, Mangerud M, Paterne M, Labeyrie L, Duprat J, Mélières MA, Sonstegaard E, Duplessy JC. The North Atlantic atmosphere-sea surface 14C gradient during the Younger Dryas climatic event. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 126, 275-287 (1994).
^Bard E, Hamelin B, Fairbanks RG, Zindler A. Calibration of the 14C timescale over the past 30,000 years using mass spectrometric U-Th ages from Barbados corals. Nature 345, 405-410 (1990).
^Bard E. Geochemical and geophysical implications of the radiocarbon calibration. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 62, 2025-2038 (1998).
^Reimer PJ, Bard E, et al. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0-50,000 years Cal BP. Radiocarbon 55 (4): 1869-1887, (2013).
^Bard E, Raisbeck G, Yiou F, Jouzel J Solar modulation of cosmogenic nuclide production over the last millennium: comparison between 14C and 10Be records. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 150, 453-462 (1997).
^Bard E, Raisbeck G, Yiou F, Jouzel J Solar irradiance during the last 1200 yr based on cosmogenic nuclides. Tellus B 52, 985-992 (2000).
^Bard E, Frank M. Climate change and solar variability: what's new under the Sun. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 248, 1-14 (2006).
^Delaygue G, Bard E. An Antarctic view of beryllium-10 and solar activity for the past millennium. Climate Dynamics 36, 2201-2218 (2011).