Back to search

KLIMAFORSK-Stort program klima

A tephrochronology for South Georgia. Research stay at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMASS).

Awarded: NOK 0.13 mill.

My PhD project is part of the NFR project Shifting Climate States of the Polar Regions (SHIFTS). SHIFTS is dedicated to investigating the climatic connectivity between the two Polar Regions during the Holocene. Through SHIFTS we aim to produce new time se ries on climate variability from the Polar Regions by analyzing soft sediment records from both hemispheres with the same methods, and by the same research group. The main focus is to reconstruct alpine glacier variability at high latitudes of both hemisp heres as these glaciers are integrating the signatures of both atmospheric and oceanic processes. Parallel studies will be carried out in Arctic Norway, Svalbard, South Georgia and Îles Kerguelen. With multiple proxy methods, integrating novel approache s and a range of dating techniques, new high-resolution proxy datasets on Holocene climate change will be obtained. This information can potentially provide better empirical constraint for Earth System Modeling projections by improving our understanding o f the dynamic interactions between polar ice and changes in atmospheric circulation, sea surface temperature and sea ice and enable a better assessment of the phase relationship of Holocene climate change between Polar regions. I will contribute to the southern component of SHIFTS by reconstructing alpine glaciers at South Georgia, a sub-Antarctic island situated in the Scotia Sea. One of my main contributions will be a tephrochronology based on bog outcrops on the island. If successful, this will provi de a new dating and correlaton tool for the region. Establishing robust age models is crucial for the SHIFTS project. Without good age control, we cannot say anything about the phase relationship of climate variations between the two Polar Regions. A teph rochronology will help to constrain the age-depth models for our climate records to make them more robust and enable a good inter-hemispheric comparison of the climate records produced in the SHIFTS project.

Funding scheme:

KLIMAFORSK-Stort program klima