EAR-PF: CENOZOIC HISTORY OF POLAR AMPLIFICATION IN SOUTH-CENTRAL ALASKA

Colwyn, David A., New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

Dr. David Colwyn has been granted an NSF EAR Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out research and education plans at the University of Colorado - Boulder. The investigation will focus on warming in high latitudes increasing three times the magnitude as observed in lower latitudes. This idea will be tested with new Cenozoic (the last 66 million years) terrestrial paleoclimate records from south-central Alaska. These records will be used to assess how temperature and hydrology have changed in south-central Alaska during the Cenozoic, and will be compared with more abundant lower-latitude data to better understand the magnitude and mechanism(s) of amplification of terrestrial warming at high latitudes. Understanding the processes that control high-latitude climate variability enables scientists to more accurately forecast high-latitude climate variability and allows Alaska and its communities to more effectively plan for the climate of the future. The proposed research will be integrated with teaching in secondary school science classrooms in Alaska (the field area) and Colorado (the location of the host institution) and undergraduate students will be involved in the field research activities. The hypothesis will be tested with new multi-proxy Paleocene-Pliocene terrestrial paleoclimate time slices from south-central Alaska. These records will be used to assess how temperature and isotope hydrology have changed in south-central Alaska during the Cenozoic, and will be compared with more abundant lower-latitude data to better understand the magnitude and mechanism(s) of amplification of terrestrial climate change at high latitudes. Specifically, this phenomenon of polar amplification has been traditionally linked to ice-albedo feedback; if true, this idea requires that polar amplification would be limited to icehouse climate states. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.