Collaborative Research: Water Balance of Western North America: Dynamics of the Miocene Summer Monsoon

该项目通过应用一种创新的方法，将降水模式的变化与东太平洋和墨西哥湾的海表温度（SST）变化联系起来，重点分析了中新世期间美国西部的水平衡。与现代美国西部普遍的干旱气候相比，中新世中期的气候要湿润得多，尽管大气中的二氧化碳含量也差不多。该项目将利用现有的海洋钻探计划沉积物岩心重建中新世中晚期的海温时间序列，并利用陆地气候变化代用物对时间序列进行实地验证，从而确定海温变化如何影响海洋向陆地的净水转移。通过应用区域和全球气候模型模拟海温变化对气候条件的影响在美国西部项目将产生第一well-constrained SST中新世记录时间和将提供建模结果追算中新世气候条件,也可以应用于一种预测确定的潜在影响气候变暖事件对未来干旱的美国西部更广泛影响的项目包括之间的联系水循环和区域气候变化，支持相对较新的博士担任主要研究人员，以及培养研究生和本科生。

This project focuses on the analysis of the water balance in the Western U.S. during Miocene time through the application of an innovative approach that links changes in precipitation patterns to sea surface temperature (SST) variations in the eastern Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. In contrast to the prevailing arid climate of the modern Western U.S., conditions during middle Miocene time were far wetter despite similar atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. This project will determine how SST variations affect the net transfer of water from ocean to land by using existing Ocean Drilling Program sediment cores to reconstruct a SST time series for the middle and late Miocene, by groundtruthing the time series using terrestrial proxies for climate change, and by applying both regional and global climate models to simulate the impact of SST variations on climate conditions in the Western U.S. The project will produce the first well-constrained SST record for Miocene time and will provide modeling results that hindcast Miocene climate conditions and that may also be applied in a predictive sense to determine the potential impact of warming episodes on the future aridity of the Western U.S. Broader impacts of the project include linkages between the water cycle and regional climate change, support for relatively recent PhDs as principal investigators, and training of graduate and undergraduate students.