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

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Projected warming through the next century will be most strongly expressed at high latitudes. These areas are highly sensitive to environmental change and play an important role in the global climate system. Future impacts at high latitudes of projected warming are not well understood due to the complex feedbacks associated with the Arctic system and the potential for dynamical responses to forcing. One means to test the reliability of projected warming is to develop paleo-records which document the impacts of warming from past conditions (interglacials) when climate was warmer than present for sustained intervals. The proposed research focuses on establishing records of past climate as warm or warmer than present from sites in the interior of Alaska, central and northern Yukon Territory. This research makes us of, and further develops, the record of distal volcanic ash (tephra) in this region which allows discrete timelines over large areas to be identified in order to connect records between sites, and establish independent ages of relict permafrost and paleoenvironmental records.