Southern Hemispheric Climate and Carbon Cycle Reponse to Orbital Forcing During the Last ~400,000 Years

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This project involves running a series of transient climate model simulations with an earth system model of intermediate complexity. The goal is to examine the underlying mechanisms of orbitally-paced Pleistocene climate change in the Southern Hemisphere. Specifically, a global atmosphere-ocean-sea ice model of intermediate complexity, coupled to a vegetation model and a marine carbon cycle model, will be used in the suite of transient climate simulations covering the last four glacial-interglacial cycles. The model will be forced by the history of greenhouse gas concentrations, orbitally-induced changes of solar insolation, and model-based reconstructions of the time evolution of the major glacial ice-sheets.The researchers will address three issues: i) how greenhouse gas variations and local orbital forcing affect sea-ice extent, climate, and ocean ventilation in the Southern Hemisphere; ii) how sensitive Southern Hemispheric Westerlies are to orbital-scale external forcing; and iii) how the marine carbon cycle responds to orbitally-induced changes in ocean ventilation.The primary broader impacts involve better modeling of climate and carbon cycling variations over long time periods as well as supporting a female post doctoral scholar.