The Arctic-Atlantic gateway of the Northwest Passage: oceanic exchange, paleoceanography, paleoclimate, proxy calibration and refinement

西北航道的北极-大西洋门户：海洋交换、古海洋学、古气候、代理校准和细化

• 批准号: RGPIN-2016-05457
• 负责人: Pienkowski, Anna
• 金额: $ 1.75万
• 依托单位: Grant MacEwan University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=615706
• 关键词: Arctic; Atlantic; gateway; Northwest; Passage

My research group works to determine how the marine environments of Arctic Canada have changed in response to climate change since the last Ice Age (~22,000 years ago) to the present. The focus of this research program, the Northwest Passage (NWP) - the historical route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via the shallow channels of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) - is a crucial gateway for heat and water transport from the Arctic Ocean to the North Atlantic. This region has been affected by recent climate change, experiencing pronounced shifts such as decreasing seasonal sea-ice cover. Such changes urgently require Canadian stewardship to contribute to issues of growing social and economic importance. As such, my timely research program will generate new knowledge highly relevant to Arctic communities and decision makers in anticipation of expanded NWP use, as further climate change opens up this region for extensive ship traffic. The principal objective of this research program is to significantly advance our fundamental knowledge of how and when the CAA became a gateway for Arctic-Atlantic ocean throughflow after the last demise of the great ice sheets in this region, and to improve our understanding of how polar archipelagos respond to climate change both in the past and recently. Another objective is to place recent NWP environmental changes into the long-term geological record and determine whether there are identifiable similarities. This research requires an integrated approach that uses ship-based field studies (marine sediment cores and their included biological and biogeochemical information) with oceanographic modeling to track the timing and style of establishment of oceanic throughflow and to characterize the prevailing environmental conditions (sea-ice cover, water temperatures, ecosystem productivity). These data are used to determine factors controlling Arctic-Atlantic gateway connectivity. To aid in interpreting evidence from marine cores (extending into the distant past) and provide a modern context, this program will also generate valuable data sets on biological and biogeochemical characteristics of surface seabed sediments (which represent the present day). This proposed program represents an innovative, integrated and timely research approach to studying the long-term oceanographic and climatic development of polar archipelagos serving as global ocean gateways. Such knowledge is a pre-requisite for an Arctic Ocean-wide understanding of polar responses to climate change. This proposed program will train 12 HQP and provide them with invaluable skills in marine geological, biogeochemical and micropaleontological techniques. Additionally, students will gain expertise in field planning, management skills and gain experience working in remote settings, preparing them to take on leadership roles in academia, industry, and government.

我的研究小组致力于确定自上一次冰河时代(约22,000年前)到现在，加拿大北极的海洋环境是如何随着气候变化而变化的。西北航道(NWP)是历史上通过加拿大北极群岛(CAA)浅水航道连接大西洋和太平洋的航道，是北冰洋向北大西洋输送热量和水的重要通道。该地区受到最近气候变化的影响，经历了显著的变化，如季节性海冰覆盖面积的减少。这种变化迫切需要加拿大的管理为日益重要的社会和经济问题作出贡献。因此，我的及时研究计划将产生与北极社区和决策者高度相关的新知识，因为预计将扩大NWP的使用，因为进一步的气候变化将使该地区为广泛的船舶交通打开大门。 这项研究计划的主要目的是显著提高我们对CAA在该地区最后一次大冰盖消亡后如何以及何时成为北极-大西洋洋流的门户的基本知识，并增进我们对极地群岛过去和最近如何应对气候变化的理解。另一个目标是将最近的北半球环境变化记录到长期的地质记录中，并确定是否存在可识别的相似性。这项研究需要一种综合办法，利用基于船舶的实地研究(海洋沉积物岩心及其包括的生物和生物地质化学信息)和海洋学模型来追踪建立海洋贯通流的时间和方式，并描述普遍的环境条件(海冰复盖、水温、生态系统生产力)。这些数据用于确定控制北极-大西洋门户连通性的因素。为了帮助解释来自海洋岩心(延伸到遥远的过去)的证据并提供现代背景，该方案还将生成关于表层海底沉积物(代表当今)的生物和生物地球化学特征的宝贵数据集。 这一拟议方案代表了一种创新、综合和及时的研究方法，以研究作为全球海洋门户的极地群岛的长期海洋学和气候发展。这些知识是整个北冰洋了解极地应对气候变化的先决条件。这项拟议的计划将培训12名HQP，并向他们提供海洋地质、生物地球化学和微古生物学技术方面的宝贵技能。此外，学生将获得现场规划、管理技能方面的专业知识，并获得在偏远环境中工作的经验，为他们在学术界、工业和政府中担任领导角色做好准备。