Award Abstract # 0402328
Collaborative Research: High Resolution Records of Holocene Climate Change, Drought Variability and Monsoon Behavior from the Uinta Mountains of Utah

NSF Org: AGS
Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences
Recipient: PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE
Initial Amendment Date: April 23, 2004
Latest Amendment Date: April 23, 2004
Award Number: 0402328
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: David Verardo
AGS
 Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences
GEO
 Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date: May 1, 2004
End Date: April 30, 2007 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $18,002.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $18,002.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2004 = $18,002.00
History of Investigator:
  • Jeffrey Munroe (Principal Investigator)
    jmunroe@middlebury.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Middlebury College
9 OLD CHAPEL RD
MIDDLEBURY
VT  US  05753-6000
(802)443-5000
Sponsor Congressional District: 00
Primary Place of Performance: Middlebury College
9 OLD CHAPEL RD
MIDDLEBURY
VT  US  05753-6000
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
00
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): N1ACHB9PNN93
Parent UEI: N1ACHB9PNN93
NSF Program(s): Paleoclimate
Primary Program Source: app-0104 
Program Reference Code(s): 1304, 9150, EGCH
Program Element Code(s): 153000
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.050

ABSTRACT

This award funds the development of records of multi-centennial drought events over the past 10,000 years from fossil biotic and geochemical indicators of hydrological conditions and environmental temperatures preserved in Uinta Mountain (UM), Utah lake sediments. These records could increase the science community's understanding of climate-forcing mechanisms causing droughts in the UM by examining links with North Atlantic sea surface temperature variations during the early to mid-Holocene due to northward displacement of the monsoon.

The researchers have already collected surface sediments and environmental data from several lakes spanning 1,000 meters of elevation across the current northern limits of significant summer monsoonal precipitation. Diatom and chironomid-inference models for temperature, specific conductivity, and depth will be developed from these and other sites. Isotopic analysis of lake sediment cellulose will provide information on the source of precipitation.

The research aims to develop paleoclimate data and time series from a region susceptible to drought that is becoming densely populated. This information will be of value to a broad spectrum of paleoclimate researchers and water resource planners as they struggle to understand natural climate variability and its environmental impact in Utah and other parts of the Upper Colorado River Basin.

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