New Guinea Glacier Fluctuations Between 20 and 10 Ka

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Abstract ATM-9408711 Prentice, Michael L. University of Maine Title: New Guinea Glacier Fluctuations Between 20 and 10Ka This SGER Award supports a reconnaissance study of tropical glacier fluctuations in western New Guinea (Irian Jaya) during the last glacial-interglacial transition from 20 to 10Ka. The study will emphasize radiocarbon chronology. The project has four objectives: (1) topographic mapping, (2) glacier reconstruction, (3) chronology, and (4) linkage to ice-modeling and vegetation studies. The principal field area will be the Kemabu plateau a tableland north of the highest mountain on New Guinea, Mt. Jaya (4884 m). This is an exploratory proposal, logistical operations in the remote Irian Jaya highlands are quite difficult and the potential of obtaining suitable material for radiocarbon dating is unknown. Irian Jaya is adjacent to the tropical western Pacific "warm pool," the warmest region on the planet. The Irian Jaya glacial record should closely reflect the average temperature variability of the warm-pool region. Because the temperature of the warm-pool region exerts a dominant influence on the tropical water-vapor "fountain," the Irian Jaya glacial record also monitors the water-vapor content of the global atmosphere.