Last Interglacial Decline

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

This award will help obtain annual-to-decadal resolution records of abrupt climate change preserved in varved and finely laminated fossiliferous lake sediments from western and southern Europe. Stratigraphic sections in Pianico, Italy, archived cores from Grande Pile, France, and new cores from Bispingen and Krumbach, Germany and Ribains, France will be examined using multiple biotic (i.e., pollen, diatoms) and abiotic (i.e., clay and silica mineralogy, magnetic susceptibility) climate proxies to obtain high-resolution signals of atmospheric cooling at the end of the last interglacial period. Such records will provide new insights into the physical mechanism underlying the transition from warm to cool climatic conditions at the last interglacial transition. Furthermore, these terrestrial records will be compared with marine records to investigate the validity of the conceptual model that links persistent warm low-middle latitude sea-surface temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere with concurrent decreasing temperatures and sea ice formation at higher northern latitudes. In the process of developing new data, ideas, and insights surrounding abrupt climate change, the research will also help develop new collaborations with international colleagues working in this intellectual area and enhance the sharing of scientific data and ideas.