Acquisition of an Analytical Facility for High-Resolution Paleoclimatology

该合同将有助于获得亚利桑那大学（UA）的一套实验室仪器，以开发季节到几十年时间尺度的高分辨率气候变化记录。这些新仪器将有助于建立亚利桑那大学的分析能力，以促进古气候学领域新的跨学科联系和合作研究工作的发展。他们将支持在树木年轮研究实验室（LTRR）、地球科学系、行星地球研究所（ISPE）、美国国家科学基金会-亚利桑那加速器质谱设备以及物理系、大气科学系、水文学和水资源系的其他几个较小的研究小组和个人工作的研究人员的活动。该仪器包括一个连续流同位素比质谱仪（CF -IRMS）、一个微密度计、一个扫描微x射线荧光光谱仪（扫描微米XRF）、一个激光粒度分析仪和一个电感耦合原子发射光谱仪（ICP-AES）。前两个仪器将为树木年轮研究实验室提供新的资源，使研究人员能够以前所未有的5微米分辨率和快速吞吐量绘制晚期木材密度（夏季温度的代表）。这将使基于树木年轮的长达几个世纪的气候记录得以发展，即使是在那些表现出极窄年轮的物种中。CF-IRMS是一种多功能仪器，除其他应用外，它将提供一个自动化的高通量系统，用于测量50-100克树木纤维素样品中的稳定同位素，允许重建缺乏年轮结构的热带树木过去的降雨模式。激光粒度分析仪将提供从沉积物中获得沉积物运输机制、来源以及物理和湖泊条件的详细信息的能力。这可以用来推断有关大气环流和水文收支的信息。扫描微米XRF仪器使研究人员能够从许多不同类型的古气候档案中，包括整个沉积物岩心，在非常精细的空间尺度上，非破坏性地获得快速而详细的元素组成信息。同样，ICP-AES将能够从海洋或陆地档案（如珊瑚、软体动物和洞穴动物）中快速生成精确的元素记录。由该奖项资助的仪器所促进的开发高分辨率气候变率记录的能力，将有助于更好地了解气候突变对人口的潜在影响以及人类活动与气候之间的相互作用。研究人员计划利用新设施在亚利桑那大学建立一个更综合的古气候研究和培训项目。他们还计划设计一门新的课程，旨在培养本科生和研究生在古气候方法和应用方面的能力——这是一门实践课程，不仅能让学生更多地使用仪器，还能开发出一套新的方法和应用手册，供在校内外的学生使用。

This award will help enable the acquisition of a suite of laboratory instruments at the University of Arizona (UA) to develop high-resolution records of climate variability on seasonal to multi-decadal time scales. The new instruments will help build analytical capacity at UA to facilitate the development of new cross-disciplinary linkages and collaborative research efforts in paleoclimatology. They will support the activities of a diverse group of researchers working in the Laboratory for Tree Ring Research (LTRR), the Department of Geosciences, the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth (ISPE), the NSF-Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometry facility, and several other smaller research groups and individuals in the departments of Physics, Atmospheric Sciences, and Hydrology and Water Resources. The proposed instrumentation includes a continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometer (CF -IRMS), a microdensitometer, a scanning micro-x-ray fluorescence spectrometer (scanning micron XRF), a laser particle size analyzer, and an inductively coupled atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES). The first two instruments will provide new resources to the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research that will enable researchers to map latewood density, a proxy for summer temperatures, at an unprecedented 5-micron resolution and with rapid throughput. This will enable the development of centuries-long tree-ring based climate records even in species exhibiting extremely narrow bands. The CF-IRMS is a versatile instrument that will, among other applications, provide an automated high throughput system for measuring stable isotopes in 50-100 gram samples of tree cellulose, permitting reconstruction of past patterns of rainfall in tropical trees lacking annual ring structure. The laser particle size analyzer will provide the capability to derive detailed information about sediment transport mechanisms, provenance, and physical and limnological conditions from sediments. This can be used to infer information about atmospheric circulation and the hydrologic budget. The scanning micron XRF instrument gives the researchers the ability to non-destructively derive rapid and detailed elemental compositional information on very fine spatial scales from many different types of paleoclimate archives, including whole sediment cores. Similarly, the ICP-AES will enable the rapid generation of precise elemental records from marine or terrestrial archives such as corals, mollusks, and speleothems.The ability to develop high-resolution records of climate variability facilitated by the instruments funded with this award would help provide a better understanding of the potential effects on human populations of abrupt climate change and of the interactions between human activity and climate. The researchers plan to capitalize on the new facility to create a more integrated paleoclimate research and training program at the University of Arizona. They also plan to design a new course intended to train undergraduate and graduate students in paleoclimate methods and applications - a hands-on course that will not only enable more use of the instrumentation, but also lead to the development of a new methods and applications manual for use by students on campus and beyond.