Diatom lipids to reveal sea-ice history in remote Antarctic regions

该项目旨在利用特定海洋浮游植物（硅藻）的分子、地球化学、元素和基因组特征了解南极海冰的季节性范围。在卫星记录之前的一百万年，人们对海冰的季节性变化和夏季海冰范围的位置知之甚少，但这些信息对于确定海气交换和生态系统食物网调节至关重要。该项目将结合地球化学和生物学方法，提供数据，以改善过去缺少海冰数据的南极生态系统和气候模型。研究澳大利亚南大洋深海岩芯中的硅藻生物标志物将重新定义南极气候的知识，并为改善全球生态系统和气候模型提供必要的数据。

This project aims to understand seasonal Antarctic sea-ice extent using molecular, geochemical, elemental and genomic characteristics of specific marine phytoplankton (diatoms). Little is known of the seasonal sea-ice variation and the position of the summer sea-ice extent a million years before satellite records, but this information is critical to determining air-sea gas exchange and ecosystem food web regulation. This project will unite geochemical and biological approaches to provide the data to improve past Antarctic ecosystem and climate models where sea-ice data is missing. Studying diatom biomarkers in deep sea cores from Australia’s Southern Ocean will redefine knowledge of Antarctic climate and provide data necessary to improve global ecosystem and climate models.