Collaborative Research: Southern Hemisphere Processes and Global Climate Change: The Evolution of Late Miocene to Present Surface Ocean Conditions in the Southern Hemisphere

来自拉斐特学院和路德学院的研究人员将与他们的本科生一起调查过去600万年南半球的气候变化，以便更好地了解地球气候系统内的关键联系和反馈。这项研究的重点是世界上的一个地区——南半球——其气候历史在很大程度上是未知的，但已知它在与碳循环、深海通风和热带热交换动力学相关的重要气候和海洋过程中起着关键作用。此外，该项目还将包括对地球历史上一段时间内气候动态的详细调查，当时全球气温比今天高几度，格陵兰冰盖的面积大大缩小。因此，本研究将提供对某一间隔期间气候条件的更清晰理解，该间隔代表了在当前人为温室气体排放模式下未来气候条件的潜在模拟。具体来说，研究人员将研究北半球和南半球之间气候演化的对称性，以及气候系统对气候强迫变化的演化响应，这些变化是由于地球相对于太阳的轨道位置和方向的周期性变化引起的。除了在这项研究中解决的科学问题之外，该项目还将促进未来地球科学家的早期准备，他们将拥有应对气候变化带来的科学和社会挑战的技能。参与该项目的本科生研究人员将获得有关科学研究的性质和过程的实践经验，在古气候学领域的直接培训，与科学研究相关的批判性思维技能，以及更深入地介绍系统思维技能，这些技能使地球科学家以不同的方式了解世界。此外，主要研究人员及其研究学生向当地K-12学生和教育工作者进行的外展活动将进一步传播这项工作的成果，以及古气候研究和气候科学的更广泛贡献。

Researchers from Lafayette and Luther Colleges, together with their undergraduate students, will investigate southern hemisphere climate change over the last six million years in order to better understand key linkages and feedbacks within the Earth's climate system. This research focuses on a region of the world -- the southern hemisphere -- whose climate history has been largely unexplored previously, but that is known to play a critical role in important climate and oceanic processes related to carbon cycling, deep ocean ventilation, and tropical heat exchange dynamics. Additionally, this project will include a detailed investigation of climate dynamics during an interval in Earth's history when global temperatures were a few degrees warmer than today's and the size of the Greenland ice sheet was much reduced. Thus, this study will provide a clearer understanding of climate conditions during an interval that represents a potential analog for future climate conditions given current patterns of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, the researchers will examine the symmetry of climate evolution between the northern and southern hemispheres and the evolving response of the climate system to changes in climate forcing due to cyclic changes in the position and orientation of the Earth in its orbit relative to the Sun.Beyond the scientific questions addressed in this research, this project will also advance the early preparation of future Earth scientists who will have the skills to face both the scientific and societal challenges presented by climate change. Undergraduate student researchers involved with this project will gain hands-on experience in the nature and process of scientific research, direct training in the field of paleoclimatology, critical thinking skills related to scientific research and a deeper introduction to the systems thinking skills that distinguish the Earth scientist's approach to understanding the world. In addition, outreach to local K-12 students and educators by the principle investigators and their research students will further disseminate the results of this work as well as the broader contributions of paleoclimatic research and climate science.