Collaborative Research: Centennial Scale Records of the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation

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Swart/Hollander 0823636/0823268This award will provide funds to obtain new proxy records of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) over time periods between 100 to 1000 years using sclerosponge aragonite geochemistry (18O/16O and Sr/Ca), and to investigate possible artifacts in stable oxygen and carbon (13C/12C) isotope data due to alteration during the sampling of aragonitic skeletal material. Specific objectives include 1) the generation of sclerosponge geochemical data, combined with improved dating, to confirm a correlative link between salinity and AMO at multiple locations in the Bahamas and Caribbean both prior to and after the instrumental record (~1850), 2) improvement of the geochemical calibrations between temperature and Sr/Ca and d18O based on a new collection of ~ 24 sclerosponge specimens collected between 1986 and 1996 and 3) investigation of additional minor and trace elements as recorders of environmental conditions in the tropical subsurface environment. The Broader Impacts include the societal relevance of research directed at understanding a fundamental question of the climate system that could have a synergistic impact on human-contributed forcings of the climate system and support of research by undergraduate and graduate students.