EAR-PF: High resolution paleoclimate reconstruction of 8200 year event from northern Venezuelan speleothem stable isotope records: possible atmospheric-oceanic linkages

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Dr. Julie Retrum is awarded an NSF Earth Science Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Retrum will study the timing, structure, and mechanism of the 8200 year event, the largest climate excursion during the Holocene (approximately the last 11 to 12 thousand years). The research goals will be accomplished by performing high-resolution uranium-series radiometric dating and carbon and oxygen stable isotope geochemistry on Venezuelan cave stalagmites. The results of this investigation will aid in our understanding of the mechanisms and global impacts of rapid climatic excursions and in the calibration of climate models attempting to forecast future climate.In addition, Dr. Retrum will be working on two educational activities. The first activity will develop teaching modules on ocean-atmospheric interactions and the role of oceans in climate change for undergraduate introductory oceanography laboratories. The second activity will address undergraduate climate change misconceptions and make attempts to effectively counter them in a classroom setting.