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

大规模的大气环流系统影响了北美西部降水的地理分布，但人们对这些系统在过去150年的仪器周期之前如何变化知之甚少。 该项目的主要目标是利用冰芯记录的积雪来重建阿拉斯加过去一千年的降水历史。 研究人员计划从珠穆朗玛峰收集几个新的冰芯。德纳利国家公园阿拉斯加山脉的亨特高原，新的冰芯将与该地区现有的冰芯空间阵列相结合，以绘制降水空间模式的变化。 由于ENSO和太平洋年代际振荡（PDO）引起的大气环流模式的变化会影响降水福尔斯的下落，因此冰芯的空间阵列将提供这些较大尺度气候系统在过去一千年中如何变化的记录。 该项目将重点确定小冰期（约200至600年前）和中世纪气候异常（约800至1，200年前）降水模式的差异，评估气候状态的变化如何影响大气环流和降水。 此外，该项目还包括K-12、本科生和研究生教育活动，以及与国家公园管理局合作开发的互动展示，展示该地区的气候历史和德纳利国家公园冰川进退的历史。

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.