Holocene and Modern Climate Change in the High Arctic: Establishing an REU site on Svalbard, Norway

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ABSTRACTWernerOPP-0244097The Arctic Natural Sciences Program and Paleoclimate Program in the Division of Atmospheric Sciences are jointly funding this three-year project. Mount Holyoke College is the host institution in collaboration with Principal Investigators at the Universities of Massachusetts and Northern Illinois, Bates College, Hampshire College, and the Norwegian University system (UNIS) and the Norwegian Polar Institute. The Arctic is particularly sensitive to climate change and because climatically-induced environmental changes in this region can instigate further changes of global consequences. Svalbard has warmed considerably during the last 90 years and climate proxies indicate even greater Holocene climate change. Despite this, little is known of sub-century climate change and virtually nothing is known of decadal scale variability in this region. Undergraduate students will do research on glacial-lacustrine and glacio-marine systems in order to establish linkages between climate, glacier mass balance, sediment transport, and lake and fjord sedimentation. Selected undergraduate students will: 1) quantify the response of the glacial, fluvial, lacustrine, and fjord systems to measured weather fluctuations; and 2) use these relationships to calibrate and interpret sediment records from lakes and fjords to reconstruct Holocene climatic changes. Students, working closely with student colleagues and faculty mentors, will design their own research questions, collect field data, and formulate hypotheses and conclusions. They will spend five weeks on Svalbard which will include orientation, safety training, and fieldwork. They will complete their research at their home institutions during the following academic year and will be invited the following spring semester to participate in a project symposium. The objective of this REU Site program is to expose students to the challenges and rewards of polar research. Six research positions will available in summer, 2004 for highly motivated undergraduate students having a strong interest in polar science and climate change research. Underrepresented groups and students without research opportunities at their home institutions will be actively recruited. Research results from this project will be incorporated into undergraduate courses at all of the institutions, will be made available to the broader scientific community, and will be used in presentations on arctic climate change for public audiences.