Collaborative Research: Paleo Records Of GLacier And Climate changes Inferred from Alaskan Lakes (PROGLACIAL)

气候变化对社会构成重大挑战。需要更多的信息，以便将近期的气候变化纳入自然气候多变性的长期背景。这些信息有助于预测未来可能的气候趋势，特别是那些涉及气候系统缓慢变化特征的趋势，这些特征将在未来数百年至数千年内继续变化。各种地质证据可用于将温度和其他气候变量的观测时间向后延伸。该项目的重点是重建美国北极地区阿拉斯加的冰川波动，作为过去数千年气候变化的证据。研究小组将通过研究冰川融水流携带的沉积物和冰川湖泊中的沉积物来估计过去冰川的大小。还将研究为该项目收集的沉积物样本，以寻找地震和火山爆发的迹象，以确定这些破坏性事件过去发生的频率以及今后可能发生的频率。该项目还将帮助本科生和研究生为STEM劳动力的职业生涯做好准备。冰川覆盖的范围是气候的主要指标。储存在冰川（冰前）湖泊中的沉积物提供了冰川大小波动的独特连续记录。该项目将利用冰川岩粉丰度的基本沉积指标（体积密度、有机物、颗粒大小、磁化率和积累率），进一步发展重建冰前湖集水区内冰川覆盖范围的能力。通过沿着阿拉斯加冰川集水区从严重到稀疏的环境梯度对冰前湖进行沿着采样，研究小组将系统地获得有关这些众所周知的冰川指标的定量信息，这些指标随冰川大小和其他环境变量而变化。这些信息将用于开发一个数值模型，以根据从阿拉斯加中南部和西北部多个湖泊中采集的沉积物岩心中测量的湖泊沉积物特性来估计过去的冰川范围，这些沉积物可以追溯到大约15，000年前。除石粉指标外，还将分析沉积物中的陆地和水生生产力指标，包括有机色素和生物二氧化硅丰度，这些指标可用于生成具有十年分辨率的时间序列。这些记录将用于解决与阿拉斯加上一次大冰期后气候变化的时间和程度有关的基本问题。湖泊沉积物的年龄将使用短寿命放射性同位素，火山灰层和放射性碳测年来确定。该项目还将有助于评估与阿拉斯加人口最稠密地区附近的地震和火山活动有关的地质灾害，支持和吸引STEM研究生和本科生以及早期职业研究人员，并开发科学资源，包括广受欢迎的《阿拉斯加古冰川地图集》。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进行评估，更广泛的影响审查标准。

Climate change poses a major challenge for society. More information is needed to put recent climate changes into a long-term context of natural climate variability. This information helps to foresee possible future climate trends, especially those that involve slow-moving features of the climate system, which will continue to change over hundreds to thousands of years to come. A variety of geological evidence can be used to extend observations of temperature and other climate variables back in time. This project focuses on reconstructing glacier fluctuations in Alaska, the Arctic region of the United States, as evidence for past climate changes extending back for thousands of years. The research team will estimate past glacier size by studying sediment from glaciers that is carried by meltwater streams and deposited in glacier-fed lakes. The sediment samples collected for this project will also be studied for signs of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to determine how frequently these damaging events have occurred in the past and will likely occur in the future. The project will also help prepare undergraduate and graduate students for careers in the STEM workforce.The extent of glacier cover is a prime indicator of climate. Sediments stored in glacier-fed (proglacial) lakes provide a uniquely continuous record of glacier-size fluctuations. This project will further develop the ability to reconstruct the extent of glacier cover within the catchment of proglacial lakes using basic sedimentary indicators of glacier rock-flour abundance (bulk density, organic matter, particle size, magnetic susceptibility, and accumulation rate). By sampling proglacial lakes along an environmental gradient of heavily to sparsely glaciated catchments in Alaska, the research team will systematically acquire quantitative information about these well-known glacial indicators, which vary with glacier size and other environmental variables. This information will be used to develop a numerical model to estimate past glacier extent based on lake sediment properties measured in sediment cores taken from multiple lakes in south-central and northwest Alaska that extend back to around 15,000 years. In addition to rock-flour indicators, the sediment will be analyzed for terrestrial and aquatic productivity indicators, including organic pigments and biogenic silica abundance, which are amenable to generating time series with decadal-scale resolution. These records will be used to address fundamental questions related to the timing and extent of climate changes in Alaska that occurred following the last major ice age. The ages of the lake sediment will be determined using short-lived radioisotopes, volcanic ash layers, and radiocarbon dating. This project will also contribute to assessing geological hazards related to seismic and volcanic activity near the most populated area of Alaska, supporting and engaging STEM graduate and undergraduate students and early career researchers, and developing scientific resources, including the popular Alaska PaleoGlacier Atlas.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.