Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/J00443X/1
Influence of Orbital Forcing on ENSO variability - new insights from an annually laminated speleothem
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Dr PJ Hopley, Birkbeck College, Earth and Planetary Sciences
- Grant held at:
- Birkbeck College, Earth and Planetary Sciences
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Earth
- Marine
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Earth
- ENRIs:
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Archaeology Of Human Origins
- Science-Based Archaeology
- Climate & Climate Change
- Palaeoenvironments
- Abstract:
- Future climate change scenarios suggest the African continent will become increasingly susceptible to extreme changes in rainfall (droughts and flooding). Attempts to predict rainfall variability in Africa have been limited by our poor understanding of what controls past variability; for example characterising the influence of El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) on African hydrology. The warmer conditions of the early Pleistocene when the Walker Circulation and ENSO become established offer an analogue to future African climate variability. We propose to investigate these issues by utilising a unique annually laminated half a million year long speleothem deposit from South Africa - the Buffalo Cave flowstone. Building on our previous millennial scale record of African rainfall, we now propose to expand proxy resolution to annual for band thickness and decadal for stable isotopes. The program of annual band thickness counting and stable isotope measurement will generate a rainfall record of unprecedented length and temporal resolution, enabling us to investigate the controls on African rainfall variability at a range of timescales from inter-annual to orbital. The Buffalo Cave flowstone record covers the time period ca. 2.0-1.5 Ma, based on preliminary dating evidence, and crosses one of the most important climate transitions in the Tropics, the intensification of the Walker circulation between 1.8 and 1.7 Ma. We will thus be able to characterise changes in South African rainfall before, during and after the establishment of this fundamental feature of the modern climate system. It will allow us to understand the evolution of the ENSO system and the long term influence of the IOD. This research will provide new insights into rainfall variability in the past, and will aid our predictions of future rainfall in Africa.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/J00443X/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- New Investigators (FEC)
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- New Investigators
This grant award has a total value of £77,215
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DA - Estate Costs | DI - T&S | DA - Other Directly Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £33,836 | £15,115 | £21,486 | £4,649 | £1,609 | £520 |
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