Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/C000137/1
Can Younger Dryas atmospheric 14C concentration be attributed to North Atlantic surface ocean ventilation? (NERC RAPID)
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor W Austin, University of St Andrews, School of Geography and Geosciences
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr C Bryant, NERC Radiocarbon Laboratory, NERC Radiocarbon Laboratory
- Grant held at:
- University of St Andrews, School of Geography and Geosciences
- Science Area:
- Marine
- Earth
- Atmospheric
- Overall Classification:
- Marine
- ENRIs:
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- Ocean Circulation
- Ocean - Atmosphere Interact.
- Quaternary Science
- Abstract:
- Records of changing atmospheric radiocarbon concentration (?14C, reported as per mil deviations from pre-industrial values after correction for decay and fractionation) from the last deglaciation suggest that an anomaly during the Younger Dryas cold phase is the largest of the last 15,000 years. However, the cause of the Younger Dryas ?14C changes are debated, and are either attributed to changes in the production rate of 14C due to changes in solar activity or the Earth's magnetic field and/or changes in the carbon cycle. The latter is strongly influenced by carbon exchange between the atmosphere and other reservoirs, such as the deep ocean. Since reorganization of the North Atlantic's thermohaline circulation is widely held to drive abrupt climate change a corresponding response in surface-ocean and atmospheric ?14C is expected. We demonstrate a direct correlation between surface ocean ventilation (expressed here as a marine radiocarbon reservoir age) and changing atmospheric ?14C reconstructed from the Cariaco Basin, in the southern Caribbean Sea. We are motivated to generate these high quality 14C data for the surface waters of the NE Atlantic during the last deglaciation because they provide a unique opportunity to study processes central to our understanding of long-term variability in ocean overturning rate. By focussing on a time interval (Younger Dryas) when climate transitions were both rapid and large-scale, we will utilize the quantitative data generated to critically test scenarios of overturning rate through a collaborative modelling study.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/C000137/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Directed Pre FEC
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Rapid Climate Change
This grant award has a total value of £53,700
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Staff | Total - T&S | Total - Other Costs | Total - Indirect Costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| £27,456 | £4,332 | £9,282 | £12,630 |
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