Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/C509007/1
Using benthic foraminiferal Mg/Ca at ODP site 982 to assess the climatic response to orbital and greenhouse gas forcing during the late Pleistocene.
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor H Elderfield, University of Cambridge, Earth Sciences
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr A Tripati, University of California Los Angeles, UNLISTED
- Grant held at:
- University of Cambridge, Earth Sciences
- Science Area:
- Marine
- Earth
- Atmospheric
- Overall Classification:
- Marine
- ENRIs:
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- Ocean Circulation
- Quaternary Science
- Glacial & Cryospheric Systems
- Climate & Climate Change
- Abstract:
- Evidence for modulation of climate by orbital forcing and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations is substantial, yet our understanding of the climatic response to such forcing remains controversial due to ambiguities in existing proxy-based reconstructions. Records spanning the past 450,000 years from ice cores and deep-sea sediments document rapid oscillations between glacial and interglacial conditions under variable insolation, atmospheric carbon dioxide, and methane levels. Multiple controls on foraminiferal oxygen isotope values limit our understanding of the climatic response during glacial-interglacial cycles. It is unclear what the relative timing and amplitude of temperature and ice volume changes were during the Pleistocene through Holocene, whether polar ice sheets were eliminated during past interglacials similar to the Holocene, and if climate sensitivity to greenhouse gas levels is variable under different orbital configurations. The proposed study will couple Mg/Ca ratios of benthic foraminifera, demonstrated to be highly temperature-dependent with existing oxygen isotope data from a ODP Site 982 in the North Atlantic. As seawater Mg/Ca over the Pleistocene is effectively constant, this comparative approach will provide a means to partition temperature and seawater oxygen isotope (i.e., ice volume) dynamics. Such data are critical for assessing temperature and ice sheet stability to variable insolation and greenhouse gas forcing. As such, this research is extremely relevant to the NERC mission in terms of understanding environmental change with relevance to the quality of life in the future.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/C509007/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Directed Pre FEC
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- IODP
This grant award has a total value of £19,614
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - T&S | Total - Staff | Total - Other Costs | Total - Indirect Costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| £1,426 | £10,277 | £3,184 | £4,728 |
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