The Pacific Northwest Ocean-Land Response to Millennial Scale Climate Change: An Integration of Model and Geologic Data Sets

该合同将把太平洋西北地区的海洋和陆地数据与国家大气研究中心（NCAR）区域气候模式2 （RegCM2）结合起来，调查过去15万年的区域尺度气候变化。研究人员将使用RegCM2模式，因为它在空间分辨率方面具有优势（即，与全球环流模式的数百公里相比，其分辨率为数十公里），这将提供严格的数据模式比较和太平洋西北地区潜在重要气候反馈的分辨率；气候受地形复杂性、海岸线和靠近太平洋强烈影响的地区。研究人员将检验以下三个科学假设：“假设1。在千年的时间尺度上，东北太平洋海洋表面温度的局部和区域变化，也许还有大陆加热的变化，都大到足以影响大气压力梯度，从而极大地影响沿海上升流的强度。”“假设2。海洋花粉记录忠实地反映了气候引起的陆地植被分布变化，而海洋运输的变化在东北太平洋观测到的海洋花粉记录中起次要作用。””假说3。东北太平洋沉积物物源和陆源沉积的变化反映了区域气候变化及其对大陆径流和海表环流的影响。“此外，该奖项将以综合和整体的方式解决对古气候学领域具有重要意义的几个假设，使用太平洋西北地区的海洋和陆地数据作为气候模型的输入。除了综合科学目标外，该奖项还将为俄勒冈州立大学的研究生和本科生提供综合气候研究方面的独特培训。

This award will integrate marine and terrestrial data from the Pacific Northwest with the National Center For Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Regional Climate Model 2 (RegCM2) to investigate regional-scale climate variability over the last 150,000 years. The investigators will use the RegCM2 model because it offers an advantage in spatial resolution (i.e., tens of kilometers compared to hundreds of kilometers in global circulation models) that will provide rigorous data-model comparisons and the resolution of potentially important climate feedbacks in the Pacific Northwest region; a region where climate is strongly influenced by topographic complexity, coastlines, and proximity to the Pacific Ocean.The investigators will test the following three scientific hypotheses:"Hypothesis 1. On millennial time scales, local and regional changes in sea-surface temperatures in the Northeast Pacific, and perhaps changes in continental heating, are large enough to have influenced atmospheric pressure gradients that in turn substantially affected the intensity of coastal upwelling.""Hypothesis 2. The marine pollen record faithfully reflects climate-induced changes in the distribution of terrestrial vegetation while changes in oceanic transport play a secondary role in the observed marine pollen records of the Northeast Pacific.""Hypothesis 3. Changes in sediment provenance and terrigenous sediment accumulation in the Northeast Pacific reflect regional climate change and its effect on continental runoff and surface-ocean circulation."Furthermore, this award will address several hypotheses of importance to the field of paleoclimatology in an integrative and holistic manner using marine and terrestrial data from the Pacific Northwest as inputs to climate models. In addition to integrative scientific goals, the award will also provide unique training in integrative climate research for graduate and undergraduate students at Oregon State University.