Tephrostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental studies in unglaciated Yukon and Alaska: analogues for a future, warmer Arctic

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Projected warming through the next century will be most strongly expressed in high latitude areas. These areas are highly sensitive to environmental change and play an important role in the global climate system. Future impacts at high latitudes are not well understood due to the complex feedbacks associated with the Arctic system. The reliability of projections can be tested, however, through developing paleo-records which document the impact of past climate intervals as warm or warmer than present, or interglacials of the past. Interglacial records exist in the interior of Yukon and northern Yukon Territory and adjacent Alaska. This research makes use of, and further develops the record of distal volcanic ash beds (tephra) in this region which allows discrete timelines over large areas to be identified and ages of past interglacials established. Collectively, this provides a means to test global climate models of future warming at high latitudes using the natural experiments of the earth's climate system of the past. This research builds on an established program by the applicant in northwestern Canada and eastern Alaska.