Collaborative Research: The Sedimentary Record of Tidewater Glacier Response to Holocene Climate Variability in the Antarctic Peninsula

University Of Houston, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

This project studies marine sediment cores from the Antarctic peninsula to determine whether the current decay of ice shelves there is caused by global warming or another cycle. A comprehensive set of core analyses?from radiocarbon to biostratigraphy?will be performed to characterize ice-shelf status during the last 20,000 years. The project?s goal is to assess ice-shelf response to environmental drivers such as ocean temperature, precipitation, and sea ice extent. The study benefits from two, recent, NSF-supported expeditions to the area, including ShalDril, in which lengthy sediment cores were collected. These cores will support development of a high-resolution picture of the peninsula?s glacial, climactic, and oceanographic history. The broader impacts of this project include graduate and undergraduate participation in research, support for early career researchers, collaboration with primarily undergraduate institutions, and international collaboration with scientists in the UK and Poland. There are also implications for society?s understanding of climate change, since this work improves our understanding of the behavior of ice sheets and their links to global climate.