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KLIMAFORSK-Stort program klima

Past changes in inter-annual climate variability: linking tropical and high latitude processes.

Awarded: NOK 0.36 mill.

Funds are requested for a visiting Professor Mary Elliot to spend a duration of 10 months (Feb 2019-Nov 2019) at Uni Research. During her time at Uni Research, Professor Elliot will work with Carin Andersson Dahl and colleagues. One of the primary aims will be to derive information about past changes in interannual climate change from the tropical regions and high latitudes. For this seasonally resolved paleoclimate records of sea surface temperature and salinity have been and will be derived from fossil material for the Holocene period. During her stay in Uni Research Mary Elliot will articulate her analytical effort on samples recently collected in the Island of Belitung where preliminary ages and geochemical measurements (stable isotope ratios and trace element ratio of modern and fossil samples are available. These proxies are routinely used for sea surface temperature, salinity and productivity reconstructions. The aim of this visiting professorship will be to build a common database of seasonally resolved paleoclimate records from areas highly sensitive to modes of interannual climate variability such as ENSO, the monsoon of the NAO during the mid-Holocene. Carin Andersson Dalh's research focuses on high latitude processes such as establishing links between sea surface hydrology and NAO variability. For this Carin Andersson Dalh uses similar climate archives: shells of long lived Arctica islandica. This visiting professorship will provide a unique opportunity to 1- compare and 2- homogenise methods for extracting and quantifying inter-annual variability from shell's geochemical profiles. It is also envisaged that we will 3- compare results from high and low latitudes during the Holocene period. We also aim to 4- test the possibility to measure clumped isotopes on giant clam shells. Finally, results will be integrated into a 5- model-data inter-comparison through close collaboration with the modelling group at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Change.

Funding scheme:

KLIMAFORSK-Stort program klima