Collaborative Research: P2C2--Pleistocene/Holocene Climate Reconstruction from a Pamir High Resolution Deep Ice-Core

中亚的水资源高度依赖冰川融化的水。它的高山拥有大量的冰川，季节性的积雪融化提供了该地区高达80%的淡水需求。然而，自20世纪60年代以来，中亚已经失去了14%以上的冰川覆盖面积和约18%的冰量。冰川补给的水文系统的变化影响到这些地区的水供应和生物多样性。然而，这些观测只涵盖了该地区气候历史的一小部分。来自高喜马拉雅冰川的冰芯保存着数千年来气候变化的记录。了解这些记录中记录的自然变化对于解释该地区对现代和未来气候变化的脆弱性至关重要。该项目将从塔吉克斯坦帕米尔地区恢复一个从地表到基岩的冰芯，用于详细记录中亚全新世及以后的气候变化。研究结果将用于重建中亚地区气候适度、突变和阈值变化的动态和速率。具体地说，研究小组将从冰芯(包括稳定同位素、微量元素、主离子和尘埃颗粒)中产生每年可分辨的多变量地球化学记录，回收花粉和其他生物物质，并将结果与冰芯和亚洲内陆的其他古记录进行比较。将通过各种技术(层计数、放射性碳、铍-10、铅-210和氚)建立时间控制。该项目涉及与来自德国和日本的国际研究伙伴以及塔吉克斯坦当地政府部门的科学合作。来自两个美国机构的研究生将参与国际活动，包括实地考察采集冰芯以及后续采样和协作访问。该项目由大气和地球空间科学部古气候计划、EPSCoR计划和国际科学与工程部联合支持。

Central Asia is highly dependent on glacier meltwater for its water resources. Its high mountains hold great volumes of glacial ice, with seasonal snow melt supplying up to 80% of the region's fresh water needs. However, since the 1960s, central Asia has lost over 14% of its glacier covered area and ~18% of its ice volume. Changes in glacially-fed hydrologic systems impact water availability and biodiversity in these regions. However, these observations cover only a fraction of the climate history of this region. Ice cores from glaciers in the high Himalayas preserve records of millennia of climate changes. Understanding the natural variability recorded in such records is of critical importance for interpreting the vulnerability of the region to modern and future climate change.This project will recover a surface-to-bedrock ice core from the Pamir, Tajikistan, which will be used to develop detailed records of climate changes in central Asia during the Holocene and beyond. The results will be used to reconstruct the dynamics and rates of moderate, abrupt, and threshold changes in climate in Central Asia. Specifically, the research team will generate annually-resolved, multivariate geochemical records from the ice cores (including stable isotopes, trace elements, major ions, and dust particles), recover pollen and other biological materials, and compare the results with ice core and other paleo records from the interior of Asia. Chronological control will be established with a variety of techniques (layer counting, radiocarbon, beryllium-10, lead-210, and tritium). The project involves scientific collaboratio with international research partners from Germany and Japan as well as from local government departments in Tajikistan. Graduate students from two US institutions would be involved in the international activities, which will include both field expeditions to collect the ice cores and follow up sampling and collaboration visits.This project is jointly supported by the Paleoclimate Program of the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences, the EPSCoR program, and the Division of International Science and Engineering.