Reconstructing Holocene Climate Variability from Varved Lake Sediments in the North American Mid-Continent

该奖项将支持对年度层状湖泊沉积物（纹层）的研究，以提供美国五大湖地区过去12,000年来过去气候的详细记录。这种纹状沉积物记录可以证明是一个宝贵的信息宝库，对解决该区域干旱频率和气候突变问题至关重要。 通过构建连续的氧同位素时间序列的全新世气候变化的铅定年沉积物记录从个别湖泊网站，调查人员将评估气候控制的氧同位素记录与现有的区域仪器记录的温度，降水量和主要的大气环流模式。 通过对离散全新世气候事件的高分辨率氧同位素分析，研究人员将确定过去自然气候变化的特征和速率。

This award will support research on annually-laminated lake sediments (varves) to provide detailed records of past climate from the Great Lakes region of the United States over the past 12,000 years. Such varved sediment records can prove a treasure trove of information critical to addressing issues of drought frequency and abrupt climate change in the region. By constructing continuous oxygen isotope time series of Holocene climate variability for lead dated sediment records from individual lake sites, the investigators will evaluate climatic controls on oxygen isotope records with existing regional instrumental records of temperature, precipitation amount, and dominant atmospheric circulation patterns. By focusing on high-resolution oxygen isotope analyses across discrete Holocene climatic events, the researchers will establish the characteristic and rate of past natural climate variability.