Sampling Galapagos corals for SST trend reconstruction

对加拉帕戈斯珊瑚进行采样以重建海温趋势

• 批准号: 0957881
• 负责人: Julia Cole
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2010-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0957881&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Sampling; Galapagos; corals; SST; trend

With this award the PI will sample living corals in the Galapagos islands that face a threat of serious damage in the next several months, a period during which a moderate to strong El Nino episode is predicted by most dynamical model forecasts of ENSO. Previous El Nino episodes have caused upwards of 95% coral mortality in the region, and the reef identified for sampling in this project may be the only living Porites (massive coral) of century-plus age remaining in the Galapagos archipelago. Based on the measured sizes and growth rates, the PIs predict that these corals preserve an annually-resolved record of sea surface temperature over the past one to three centuries, which represents a substantial extension of existing coral record length in the region. Records from the new cores will provide a critical piece of the puzzle in determining how the equatorial gradient of SST has evolved over the past century and will shed light on the mechanisms by which ENSO responds to anthropogenic climate forcing. The field program will involve a PhD student from the University of Arizona and a graduate student from Ecuador.

有了这个奖项，PI将在未来几个月内面临严重破坏威胁的加拉帕戈斯群岛对活珊瑚进行采样，在此期间，ENSO的大多数动力学模型预测将出现中度至强烈的厄尔尼诺现象。以前的厄尔尼诺事件已经导致该地区95%以上的珊瑚死亡，本项目中确定的珊瑚礁可能是加拉帕戈斯群岛中唯一存活的超过百年的Porites（大型珊瑚）。根据测量的大小和增长率，PI预测这些珊瑚在过去一至三个世纪中保持了每年的海面温度记录，这代表了该地区现有珊瑚记录长度的大幅延长。新岩芯的记录将为确定过去世纪赤道海温梯度的演变提供关键的线索，并将阐明ENSO对人为气候强迫的反应机制。该实地项目将涉及亚利桑那大学的一名博士生和厄瓜多尔的一名研究生。