Collaborative Research: Sea-level variability during the Common Era

第1部分将开展的研究将有助于为区域和全球平均海平面上升的预测提供信息，并有助于气候变化影响评估。研究人员将以比现在更高的分辨率和更详细的方式重建纽芬兰和佛罗里达大西洋海岸以及佛罗里达海湾沿岸共同时代(~过去2000年)的相对海平面变化。调查人员将与国家河口研究保护区海岸培训计划、罗格斯气候和环境变化倡议以及罗格斯合作推广计划合作，开发对该项目信息的应用用途。该项目旨在为高中生提供地球观察点燃项目，为他们提供参与实地考察和亲身体验科学研究的机会。研究结果将在塔夫茨研究日和罗格斯大学日向当地社区展示，这两个年度活动在校园内举行，公众可以与研究人员互动。本科生将参与这项研究，包括实地工作和实验室分析。这项工作将支助两名职业生涯初期的调查人员，并将向罗格斯大学和塔夫茨大学的博士后科学家以及罗格斯大学和罗德岛大学的研究生提供部分支助。第二部分拟议的工作将使用地质代理来重建纽芬兰和佛罗里达州大西洋沿岸以及佛罗里达州墨西哥湾沿岸约0.2米垂直分辨率和十年至百年时间分辨率的共同纪相对海平面变率。为了估计全球平均海平面和北美东部共同纪相对海平面的时空场，新的相对海平面重建将在经验贝叶斯统计框架下与现有的相对海平面重建和验潮仪测量相结合。数据和统计模型将被用来检验以下研究问题：1)北美大西洋和海湾沿岸的海平面是否由于中世纪气候异常期间气候变暖和小冰期气候变冷的直接结果而发生变化；2)共同纪元期间海平面的空间变异性是否可以归因于陆地冰变化和/或海洋动力学的静态平衡效应；3)地球结构随深度变化的地球模型是否足以捕捉北美东海岸冰川均衡调整的时空几何；4)北美东部自1850年以来的海平面上升速度是否超过了前两千年的任何百年趋势。拟议的工作具有重大的社会意义，因为它将提供更准确的数据，用于区域和全球平均海平面上升的预测，并有助于气候变化影响评估。

Part 1The research to be performed will help inform projections of regional and global mean sea-level rise as well as contribute to the climate change impacts assessment. The investigators will reconstruct the relative sea-level variability during the Common Era (~ last 2000 years) along the Atlantic coasts of Newfoundland and Florida and the Florida Gulf coast at higher resolution and in greater detail than is now available. The investigators will work with the National Estuarine Research Reserves Coastal Training Program, the Rutgers Climate and Environmental Change Initiative, and Rutgers Cooperative Extension program to develop applied use of the information from this project. The project seeks to offer an Earthwatch IGNITE project to high school students to provide them with the opportunity to participate in field trips and experience the scientific research firsthand. Results will be showcased to the local community at Tufts Research Days and Rutgers Day, annual events held on campus which will allow the public to engage with the researchers. Undergraduate students will be involved in the research, in both field work and laboratory analysis. Two early-career investigators will be supported by this work and partial support will be provided for postdoctoral scientists from Rutgers University and Tufts University and for graduate students at Rutgers University and the University of Rhode Island. Part 2The proposed work will use geological proxies to reconstruct Common Era relative sea level variability along the Atlantic coasts of Newfoundland and Florida and the Florida Gulf coast at ~0.2m vertical resolution and decadal-to-centennial temporal resolution. To estimate global mean sea level and the spatio-temporal field of eastern North American Common Era relative sea level, the new relative sea level reconstructions will be combined with existing relative sea level reconstructions and tide gauge measurements in an empirical Bayesian statistical framework. The data and statistical model would be used to test the following research questions: 1) whether sea level along the North American Atlantic and Gulf coasts has varied as a direct consequence of a warmer climate during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and cooler climate during the Little Ice Age; 2) whether spatial variability of sea level during the Common Era can be attributed to static-equilibrium effects of land ice changes and/or ocean dynamics; 3) whether Earth models with depth-varying Earth structure are sufficient to capture the spatio-temporal geometry of Glacial Isostatic Adjustment along the east coast of North America; and 4) whether the rate of sea-level rise since ~1850 in eastern North America has been greater than any other centennial trend during the previous two millennia. The proposed work is of significant societal relevance as it will provide more accurate data for use in the projections of regional and global mean sea-level rise as well as contribute to the climate change impacts assessment.