Award Abstract # 0752068
Collaborative Research: An ultra-high resolution, multiproxy study of the past 2,000 years of climate change in Southern California.

NSF Org: OCE
Division Of Ocean Sciences
Recipient: TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Initial Amendment Date: September 3, 2008
Latest Amendment Date: September 3, 2008
Award Number: 0752068
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Barbara Ransom
bransom@nsf.gov
 (703)292-7792
OCE
 Division Of Ocean Sciences
GEO
 Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date: September 1, 2008
End Date: August 31, 2011 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $187,241.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $187,241.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2008 = $187,241.00
History of Investigator:
  • Arndt Schimmelmann (Principal Investigator)
    aschimme@indiana.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Indiana University
107 S INDIANA AVE
BLOOMINGTON
IN  US  47405-7000
(317)278-3473
Sponsor Congressional District: 09
Primary Place of Performance: Indiana University
107 S INDIANA AVE
BLOOMINGTON
IN  US  47405-7000
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
09
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): YH86RTW2YVJ4
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): Marine Geology and Geophysics
Primary Program Source: 01000809DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 0000, OTHR
Program Element Code(s): 162000
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.050

ABSTRACT

Intellectual Merit: This research seeks to carry out a high-resolution multiproxy study of climate change over the last 2,000 year in Southern California in the Santa Barbara Basin. The research will improve the ability to predict the environmental response to global warming in Southern California and will help to understand how regional precipitation, extreme weather events and ocean circulation responded to past Holocene climate change in the area. High resolution paleoclimate data will be collected on sediment cores that span the Little Ice Age interval, Medieval Climate Anomaly, and the rapid warming in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Project objectives will be reconstruction of sea surface temperature shifts for the targeted intervals at ~10 year resolution. Reconstruction of the biogenic and lithologic sedimentary input into the basin with a 1-2 year resolution via scanning XRF will also be used to identify extreme weather events. Data from this time series will be compared with terrestrial paleoclimate records in terms of tree rings, pollen profiles, and archeological dates. Multiple box and Kasten cores will be sampled and analyzed for radiocarbon and varves to constrain ages. Multi-species planktonic foram Mg/Ca ratios and oxygen isotope analyses will illuminate sea surface temperatures. Census counts of forams, radiolarians, and diatoms will provide information on seasonal shifts in water column structure and bioproductivity. Results will allow ecosystem reconstructions and will inform us about the climate conditions and land/ocean responses in the last 2,000 years. Data will be also analyzed to try and find any periodicities associated with Pacific Decadal Oscillations (PDO) and El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

Broader Impacts: The regional effect of climate change on human resources is of significant societal importance under the present conditions of climate warming. This project will support two female PIs and advance the professional training of several graduate and undergraduate students. Efforts will be made to recruit students from groups under-represented in the sciences using established minority outreach engines. Results of the work will be broadly disseminated to the public over the Internet through the EarthGuide website, which will include related curriculum at the high school level.

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