Sub-Decadal Reconstruction of Drought Patterns in North American's Arid Interior: The Last 2000 Years

最近来自北美西部几个地区的古气候研究表明，上个世纪的气候可能不能代表气候变率的长期模式。北达科他州东南部的古湖泊学研究表明，在过去的两千年里，严重的几十年一次的干旱是很常见的。该奖项支持了一项研究，该研究旨在以次年为间隔重建北美大平原北部主要干旱的频率、持续时间和程度，并研究这些水分模式如何在植被、水文和地貌过程中表现出来。重建工作将基于对北达科他州西北部凯特湖（Kettle Lake）的分析，该湖有层压，可能是片状的沉积物。这个地点有可能提供北美中北部草原干旱的绝对年表，可以与其他地方的记录联系起来，重建过去更大范围的大气环流模式。该项目是北美西部PEP-1样带的一部分，对于表征气候系统的东向西结构至关重要。

Abstract ATM-9632040 Fritz, S.C. LeHigh University Title: Sub-Decadal Reconstruction of Drought Patterns in North American's Arid Interior: the last 2000 years Recent paleoclimatic studies from several regions of western North America suggest that the climate of the last century may not be representative of long-term patterns of climate variability. Paleolimnological work from southeastern North Dakota suggests that intervals of severe multi-decadal drought have been common during the last two millennia. This award supports a study to reconstruct at sub-decadal intervals the frequency, duration, and magnitude of major drought in the northern Great Plains of North America and to examine how these moisture patterns are manifest in vegetation, hydrology, and geomorphic processes. Reconstructions will be based on analysis of Kettle Lake in northwestern North Dakota, which has laminated, probably varved sediments. This site has the potential to provide an absolute chronology of drought in the north-central grasslands of North America that can be linked to records elsewhere to reconstruct broader scale atmospheric circulation patterns in the past. The project is part of the PEP-1 transect for western North America and is essential for characterization of the east to west structure of the climate system.