SGER: Lake Sediment Paleoclimate Research in the Lofoten Islands, Arctic Norway

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is for a reconnaissance investigation of lakes in the Lofoten archipelago, off the coast of northern Norway, to identify lakes with potential for high resolution paleoclimate studies, by carrying out limnological and bathymetric surveys and recovering and analyzing short cores of lacustrine sediments from selected sites. The Lofotens (67-69 degrees N in the North Atlantic) are in a location that is sensitive to changes in ocean circulation within the Norwegian Sea, and they are strongly influenced by variations in atmospheric circulation through the North Atlantic Oscillation. If the proper lake sediments can be found, high-resolution sedimentary records of changes in these ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns would be valuable.