Collaborative Research: P2C2--Reconstructing Central Alaskan Precipitation Variability and Atmospheric Circulation during the Past Millennium

大尺度大气环流系统影响着北美西部降水的地理分布，但在过去150年的仪器时期之前，人们对这些系统可能发生的变化知之甚少。该项目的主要目标是利用积雪的冰芯记录重建阿拉斯加过去一千年的降水历史。研究人员计划从这座山采集几个新的冰芯。位于德纳利国家公园阿拉斯加山脉的亨特高原和新的冰芯将与该区域现有的冰芯空间阵列相结合，以绘制降水空间模式的变化图。由于ENSO和太平洋年代际涛动(PDO)引起的大气环流模式的变化会影响降水落在哪里，所以这个冰芯的空间阵列将记录这些更大规模的气候系统在过去1000年中的变化。该项目将侧重于确定小冰期(约200至600年前)和中世纪气候异常(约800至1200年前)的降水模式的差异。该项目将评估气候状态的变化如何影响大气环流和降水。此外，该项目包括K-12、本科生和研究生教育活动，并与国家公园管理局合作，开发了一个互动展示，展示该地区的气候历史和德纳利国家公园的冰川进退历史。

Large-scale atmospheric circulation systems affect the geographic distribution of precipitation in western North America, yet little is known about how these systems may have varied before the instrumental period of the last 150 years. The main goal of this project is to reconstruct the history of precipitation in Alaska during the last thousand years using ice core records of snow accumulation. The researchers plan to collect several new ice cores from the Mt. Hunter Plateau in the Alaska Range of Denali National Park and the new ice cores will be combined with an existing spatial array of ice cores in the region to map changes in the spatial patterns of precipitation. Because changes in atmospheric circulation patterns caused by ENSO and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) affect where the precipitation falls, this spatial array of ice cores will provide a record of how these larger scale climate systems have varied during the last thousand years. The project will focus on determining the differences in the precipitation patterns at the Little Ice Age (approximately 200 to 600 years ago) and Medieval Climate Anomaly (approximately 800 to 1,200 years ago).This project will evaluate how changes in the climate state affect atmospheric circulation and precipitation. In addition the project includes K-12, undergraduate and graduate education activities, and, in conjunction with the National Park Service, the development of an interactive display showing the climate history of the region and the history of glacier advance and retreat in Denali National Park.