Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/B503925/1
A seasonally resolved climate record for the last twenty thousand years from Central China: Solar and monsoon variation.
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor G Henderson, University of Oxford, Earth Sciences
- Grant held at:
- University of Oxford, Earth Sciences
- Science Area:
- Terrestrial
- Earth
- Overall Classification:
- Earth
- ENRIs:
- Global Change
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Science Topics:
- Earth Surface Processes
- Palaeoenvironments
- Climate & Climate Change
- Abstract:
- Past climate records generally have a resolution of decades or longer. Climate records of inter-annual and seasonal climate variability are much more difficult to construct. Where possible, however, such seasonal records provides significant information about the mechanisms driving climate. They also indicate the range of natural climate variability against which to compare recent and future climate perturbations. Some aspects of the climate system are particularly likely to vary on interannual and seasonal timescales, including the monsoon system, the El Nino cycle, and solar-induced changes. These three all influence the climate of Central China. This proposal will reconstruct climate in that region using two unusually rapidly forming stalagmites which grew over the last twenty thousand years. These stalagmites have visible annual bands whose trace-element and isotope chemistry are a recorder of past climate. This project will first better understand the link between stalagmite geochemistry and changing rainfall and temperature. It will then make geochemical measurements at seasonal resolution on the stalagmites using a variety of state-of-the-art analytical techniques. This data will be used to reconstruct a unique high-resolution record of rainfall and temperature variation for the last twenty thousand years. This record will be used to assess changes in the strength of the monsoon and El Nino in the past, and to search for climate changes related to solar variability. It will also allow the relationship between these climate systems to be investigated for periods when the Earth's climate was in different states from that of today.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/B503925/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Standard Grants Pre FEC
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Standard Grant
This grant award has a total value of £163,188
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - T&S | Total - Staff | Total - Other Costs | Total - Equipment | Total - Indirect Costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £5,992 | £68,598 | £21,074 | £35,970 | £31,554 |
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