Tropical Hydrography and Atlantic Salinity Since the Glacial Maximum Near the Bahamas

该奖项将研究自末次冰期以来北大西洋亚热带环流的盐度历史。具体来说，它将检查来自巴哈马群岛岩心的浮游有孔虫的镁和方解石同位素记录，努力评估大西洋翻转环流在轨道和千年时间尺度上的时间和规模。先前在该地区的研究表明，大西洋水循环的巨大变化发生在这些时间尺度上。这项研究的结果对于理解过去水文循环是如何响应自然强迫而变化的，以及这些变化是如何反馈到气候系统的其他部分的，将是非常重要的。这些结果可能会使人们更好地了解地球水文循环对当前和未来温室效应的响应，以及未来海洋水文变化如何改变环流模式和气候。对过去海洋盐度的定量估计将对海洋和气候建模者有用，以检验其模式对过去气候强迫的敏感性。这个项目将资助那些帮助处理有孔虫进行分类和化学分析的高中生。和过去一样，在研究人员的实验室工作过的学生将有机会在当地和区域科学博览会上展示他们的科学实验结果。

The award will examine the salinity history of the North Atlantic subtropical gyre since the last glacial period. Specifically, it will examine magnesium and calcite isotopic records from planktonic foraminifera in cores from the Bahamas Islands in an effort to assess the timing and magnitude of Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation on orbital and millennial time scales. The implication from previous research in this region is that large changes in the hydrological cycle of the Atlantic occur on these time scales.The results of this research will be important for understanding how the hydrological cycle has changed in the past in response to natural forcing and how the changes feed back into other parts of the climate system. The results may lead to greater understand of the response of the Earth's hydrological cycle to current and future greenhouse forcing and how future changes in ocean hydrography may alter circulation patterns and climate. Quantitative estimates of past ocean salinity will be of use to ocean and climate modelers as a test of the sensitivity of their models to past climate forcing. This project will fund high school students who will help process forams for taxonomic and chemical analyses. As in the past, students who have worked in the researcher's laboratory will have the opportunity to present the results of their scientific experiments as part of local and regional science fairs.