Collaborative Research: Understanding Sensitivity of Great Lakes Water Levels to Climatic Forcing

该奖项支持对距今9400 - 7700日历年（BP）之间的五大湖进行研究。本研究由三个主要部分组成；利用多代理数据评估古气候变率以确定过去的大气条件，并重建古地理以模拟该地区的气候和水文条件。研究人员推测，在9,000 cal BP之后，由于干燥的北极空气向南入侵和东部暖干的太平洋空气增加的综合影响，湖泊的水位低于现在的水平。这将允许草原植被向东部扩张，并可能将五大湖从封闭系统向开放系统的恢复推迟到7800年前。这项研究将增加我们对气候变化和五大湖水位之间关系的理解。湖泊水位变化具有广泛的社会经济和环境影响，因此了解它们如何以及为什么变化非常重要。

This award supports a study of the Great Lakes between 9,400 - 7,700 calendar years Before Present (BP). The study is composed of three primary components; correlating Great Lake low water stands, evaluating paleoclimate variability using multi-proxy data to determine past atmospheric conditions, and reconstructing the paleogeography to model climatic and hydrologic conditions in the area. The researchers hypothesize that lake levels were below their present levels after 9,000 cal BP due to the combined effects of the southward incursion of dry Arctic air and the increase of eastern warm-dry Pacific air. This would allow for the eastern expansion of prairie vegetation and may have delayed the recovery of the Great Lakes from a closed to an open system until 7,800 cal BP. This research will increase our understanding of the relation between climate change and water levels in the Great Lakes. Lake level changes have broad socio-economic and environmental impacts so it is important to understand how and why they change.