Acquisition of a microscope and a microwave digester for the study of abrupt climatic events in the last 11 000 years

将获得一个显微镜和一个微波消化器，以加快用于研究气候突变的孢粉样本的处理。我的整个研究计划是基于海面条件(温度、盐度)的重建，这是基于孢粉学替代数据，更具体地说是甲藻孢囊。这些包囊只能在酸中消化的沉积物样本中计算出来。微波消化器将被用来从沉积物样本中去除有机物和二氧化硅，以便看到甲藻并对其进行计数。拥有优质光学系统的显微镜可以更精确地识别包囊，并便于分析。所需的设备是处理大量样品所必需的，以满足我的研究计划的目标。过去几年，人们对气候突变越来越感兴趣，因为世界各地积累的证据表明，气候突变在全新世期间以千年的时间尺度发生，并可能对人类社会产生严重影响。特别令人关注的是，它们的确切频率和幅度尚不清楚，因为目前高分辨率的古气候记录不足，这阻碍了对它们的原因和机制的确定。也很难区分自然气候变化的影响和向海洋释放更多淡水的影响，这是全球变暖的预期后果。过去的事件被用来模拟增加对海洋的淡水输入对气候的影响。然而，在冰川消融期间，大量淡水进入北大西洋的确切切入点和路径仍不确定。我的研究计划将通过从加拿大东部边缘的高分辨率记录中重建海面条件来解决这些问题。我将澄清大量融水向海洋排放的入口点和路径，记录自然气候的可变性，并提供宝贵的古气候数据，以测试用于预测未来气候变化的现有数值气候模型。

A microscope and a microwave digester will be acquired to accelerate the processing of palynological samples used to study abrupt climatic changes. My entire research program is based on reconstructions of sea surface conditions (temperature, salinity) that is based on palynological proxy data, more specifically dinoflagellate cysts. These cysts can only be counted in sediment samples that have been digested in acids. The microwave digester will be used to remove organics and silica from the sediment samples, allow seeing the dinoflagellate and counting them. A microscope with excellent quality optics will allow more precise cyst identification and facilitate the analysis. The equipment requested is essential to process the large number of samples necessary to meet the objectives of my research program. The last few years have seen increased interest in abrupt climatic changes because evidence accumulated worldwide that they occurred on a millennial time scale during the Holocene and because of their potentially serious impacts on human society. Of special concern is that fact their exact frequency and amplitude are unknown, because high resolution paleoclimatic records are insufficient at the moment, which hinders the determination of their causes and mechanisms. It is also difficult to separate the effects of the natural climatic variability from that of increased freshwater releases to the oceans, an expected consequence from global warming. Past events are used to model the impacts on climate of increased freshwater inputs to the oceans. However, there are still uncertainties about the exact entry points and path of large amounts of freshwater to North Atlantic Ocean during the deglaciation. My research program will address these problems by reconstructing sea surface conditions from high resolution records from the Eastern Canadian Margin. I will clarify the entry points and path of large meltwater releases to the oceans, document the natural climatic variability and provide valuable paleoclimatic data to test existing numerical climatic models used to predict future climate change.