Pliocene dust storms across Asia as an analogue for future climate change?

拟议的项目旨在重建亚洲上新世中期暖期(mPWP；3.264-3.025 Ma)期间沙尘暴的频率、强度和源区，并确定所涉及的驱动机制。由于mPWP在全球范围内更温暖，北半球的冰量比今天更小，因此它是未来变暖世界中沙尘暴活动的理想模板。为了预测未来全球变暖对地球系统造成的影响，了解引起和调节尘埃排放的因素，并在比今天更温暖的气候条件下促进粒子的长距离传输，是至关重要的。为了实现上述目标，该项目由三个工作包组成，这些工作包将各种地球化学和沉积学指标(氧和碳同位素、镁/钙比、放射性成因钕和铅[铅]同位素、粘土矿物学和粒度)应用于南中国海高沉积速率海相ORI891-16-P2岩芯。根据它位于亚洲沙尘暴南部路径附近的位置，这个核心非常适合捕捉特别强大的沙尘暴的发生。具体而言，这三个工作包将：(1)提供一份准确的中期天气预报沙尘暴年表；(2)查明中期天气预报期间亚洲沙尘暴活动的驱动机制；(3)查明各自的源区域。

The proposed project aims to reconstruct the frequency, intensity, and source regions of Asian dust storms during the mid-Pliocene Warm Period (mPWP; 3.264–3.025 Ma), and to identify the driving mechanisms involved. Because the mPWP was globally warmer and had a smaller Northern Hemisphere ice volume than today, it is an ideal template for dust-storm activity in a future warmer world. Understanding the factors that cause and modulate dust emissions, and foster long-range particle transport under warmer-than-today climate conditions, is fundamentally important in order to forecast the impact of dust storms on the Earth system as a consequence of future global warming. To accomplish the above-mentioned aims, the project is composed of three work packages that apply a variety of geochemical and sedimentological proxies (oxygen and carbon isotopes, Mg/Ca ratios, radiogenic neodymium [Nd] and lead [Pb] isotopes, clay mineralogy, and grain-size) to high-deposition-rate marine Core ORI-891-16-P2 from the South China Sea. Based on its position situated near the southern path of Asian dust storms, this core is exceptionally well suited to capture the occurrence of particularly potent dust storms. In detail, the three work packages will (i) yield a precise mPWP dust-storm chronology, (ii) identify the driving mechanisms underlying Asian dust-storm activity during the mPWP, and (iii) identify the respective source regions.