CAREER: Back to the Future--Integrating Research on the Mid-latitude Climate Response to Rapid Warming with Experiential Curriculum that Turns Knowledge into Action

在北方中纬度地区，过去气候变化的高分辨率记录存在严重的空白，特别是跨越快速变暖事件的记录。 这一提议提出了一个假设，即在快速变暖事件期间，定义为每世纪升温几°C，北方半球中纬度夏季净降水减少，冬季降水增加，而不考虑边界条件。这一假设是基于该地区未来的气候情景，但这些预测有很大的不确定性。研究人员将测试这一假设，并通过审查和应用一种方法来填补这些空白之一，该方法使用湖泊沉积物中的生物标志物和氢的稳定同位素来重建劳伦特五大湖地区的温度，降水季节性和夏季净降水量。由此产生的高分辨率记录将涵盖过去15，000年来三次最大的变暖事件，每次事件都发生在不同的边界条件下，以及最近的500年。这项研究将利用一个跨越过去15,000年的古气候数据库，在整个北方中纬度地区进一步检验这一假设。作为该项目的一部分，该数据库将得到改进和扩展。这项研究将被纳入一个教育计划（课程和暑期实习），准备不同的本科生和研究生（纽约州布法罗大学）为科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）职业提供培训，使他们能够在社会文化相关背景下理解和交流气候科学，并解决复杂问题。该课程和实习侧重于一个现实世界的项目，在该项目中，学生与当地企业合作，并利用科学研究为基础，为这些企业制定碳足迹和战略气候行动计划。该计划还将解决教育研究问题，来自不同社会文化背景的学生如何理解和交流有关复杂系统的知识，以及基于项目的课程的哪些方面促进了这种交流？通过研究北方中纬度地区降水对气候突变的反应，该项目将培训2名研究生和5名本科研究生，并将为人口稠密和经济重要区域的适应措施提供信息。此外，学生将直接将研究成果转化为企业可以用来减少碳足迹和建立弹性的战略计划。为企业制定的框架将通过区域企业网络公开提供和传播。这一经过全面审查的课程将用于培训75名不同的学生从事STEM职业，并将供其他教育工作者使用。该项目的研究和教育方面强调招收和留住在地球科学领域代表性不足的学生。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

There are critical gaps in high-resolution records of past climate variability in Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes, specifically records spanning rapid warming events. This proposal addresses the hypothesis that during rapid warming events, defined as several °C of warming per century, Northern Hemisphere mid-latitude net summer precipitation decreases, and winter precipitation increases, regardless of boundary conditions. This hypothesis is based on future scenarios for climate in this region, but these forecasts have large uncertainties. The researcher will test the hypothesis and fill one of these gaps by vetting and applying an approach that uses biomarkers and stable isotopes of Hydrogen in lake sediments to reconstruct temperature, precipitation seasonality, and net summer precipitation in the Laurentian Great Lakes region. The resulting high-resolution records will span the three largest warming events in the past 15,000 years, each of which occurred under different boundary conditions, and the most recent 500 years. This research will further test the hypothesis throughout the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes using a paleoclimate database spanning the past 15,000 years, which will be improved and expanded as part of the project.The research will be integrated into an education program (course and summer internship) that prepares diverse undergraduate and graduate students (University at Buffalo, NY) for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers by training them to understand and communicate climate science in socio-culturally relevant contexts and to solve complex problems. The course and internship focus on a real-world project in which students partner with local businesses and use scientific research as the basis to develop carbon footprints and strategic climate action plans for these businesses. This program will also address the educational research question, how do students from different socio-cultural contexts understand and communicate knowledge about complex systems, and what aspects of the project-based curriculum facilitate this communication?By examining the precipitation response to abrupt climate change in the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes, this project will train 2 graduate and 5 undergraduate research students and will provide information for adaptation measures in a highly populated and economically important region. Furthermore, students will directly translate research results into strategic plans that businesses can use to reduce their carbon footprint and build resiliency. The framework developed for businesses will be made publicly available and disseminated through regional business networks. This thoroughly vetted curriculum will be used to train 75 diverse students for STEM careers and will be made available for use by other educators. The research and education aspects of this project emphasize recruitment and retention of students underrepresented in Geosciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.