Collaborative Research: Climate Stability During a Time of Transition

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Under this award the PIs will investigate the hypothesis that the amplitude of millennial-scale climate variability is linked to continental ice sheet. They will investigate millinennial-scale variability in the climate system for the time interval of climate transition toward large and predictable extremes, the mid Pleistocene between 0.9-0.4 Ma. At this time the Earth was operating under different boundary conditions than those occurring form the present to the last 0.4 Ma. The research will provide high resolution (~500-800 yr) climate records from the subtropical ocean. Planktonic foraminiferal d18O record will provide the timing and amplitude of millennial-scale climate change between 0.4 and 0.9 Ma. Mg/Ca ratios of paired samples at orbital-scale resolution (~3 kyr) will allow us to monitor overall SST changes in response to large-scale glacial/interglacial climate change. The results will be the first to resolve mid Pleistocene orbital and millennial-scale subtropical sea surface temperature. The study is ideally suited to enhance environmental awareness in undergraduate students, a necessity for schooling future high school teachers. The study will be the focus of one senior thesis and will also involve two graduate students who will gain a strong geochemical background.