Collaborative Research: A Combined Proxy and Model Investigation of Late Holocene Paleoclimate in the Horn of Africa

该项目试图使用代理测量和建模相结合的方法来调查过去4,500年来非洲之角干旱事件的机制。来自伍兹霍尔海洋研究所和哥伦比亚大学拉蒙特·多尔蒂地球天文台的研究人员将合作，为该地区创造首个已知的古气候记录。该项目将使用从亚丁湾收集的沉积物岩心的替代数据来确定区域海洋表面温度(镁/钙，TEX86)和水文气候(来自植物叶蜡的碳和氢同位素)，分辨率约为20年。区域海洋表面温度数据将用于驱动共同体地球系统模型(CESM)对关键干旱和暴雨事件的模拟。模型输出将与替代的水文气候记录进行比较，以评估非洲之角对区域SST与更偏远(全球)气候驱动因素的敏感性。非洲之角的干旱历史与政治不稳定密切相关，使其人口特别容易受到气候变化的影响。调查人员将通过与伍德罗·威尔逊中心？S环境变化和安全项目合作举办的研讨会，让专注于这一问题的政策制定者参与进来。该项目将支持三名职业早期研究人员，其中两名是女性，之前没有得到NSF的支持，以及培训一名本科生。

This project seeks to investigate the mechanisms causing drought events in the Horn of Africa over the last 4,500 years using a combination of proxy measurements and modeling. Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory will collaborate to generate the first known paleoclimate record for the region. The project will use proxy data from a sediment core collected in the Gulf of Aden to determine regional sea surface temperatures (Mg/Ca, TEX86) and hydroclimate (carbon and hydrogen isotopes from plant leaf waxes) at a resolution of ~20 years. The regional sea surface temperature data will be used to drive Community Earth System Model (CESM) simulations of key drought and pluvial events. Model output will be compared with the proxy hydroclimate record to assess the Horn of Africa's sensitivity to regional SSTs versus more remote (global) climate drivers. Drought history in the Horn of Africa is closely tied to political instability, making its population particularly vulnerable to climate change. The investigators will engage policy makers focused on this issue through a workshop held in collaboration with the Woodrow Wilson Center?s Environmental Change and Security Program. The project will support three early-career researchers, two of which are female with no prior NSF support, as well as training of an undergraduate student.