Testing New Paradigms: The Sea Level Record of Past Interglacials

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-2). The award will support a young investigator who will apply a new approach to an important aspect of climate change, i.e., establishing quantitative estimates of past sea levels, associated with sea-level highstands of the late Pleistocene. The PI will combine a detailed stratigraphic approach with the analysis of a very large number of samples from individual stratigraphic units. This will extend The PI?s work on past interglacial sea levels using uplifted reef corals from Barbados. Refinements in U-Th dating techniques will enable improved age-dating and to distinguish features of the interglacial sea-level record not attainable earlier. Broader impacts include the use of past interglacial sea-level records in modeling climate change for the future. Support of a graduate student and undergraduate training is also included.