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Project title

Providing Insights from Climate Archives (PICA): a multiproxy approach for the reconstruction of AMOC response to Quaternary climate events

Primary Funding Agency

Irish Research Council

Co-Funding Organisation(s)

Environmental Protection Agency

Lead Organisation

National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG)

Lead Applicant

n/a

Project Abstract

Our limited understanding of how the climate system is (will) responding to current (future) rates of anthropogenic global warming is linked to insufficient data from past environmental responses to a changing climate. It has been hypothesised that enhanced high-latitude warming in response to global warming may lead to an abrupt slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC); an important part of the climate system which plays a crucial role in oceanic northward heat transport that maintains a mild climate for the Northern Hemisphere, including Ireland. An abrupt slowdown of the AMOC has thus the potential to significantly impact our climate in Europe and beyond. However, to date there are no palaeoclimate or modelling studies that can confirm this hypothesis for warmer-than-present environments. This gap has led to large uncertainties when estimating the variability of AMOC-related climate events in the future and illustrates that our understanding of the precise mechanisms linked the AMOC and climate in times of abrupt change remain limited. Here I propose to investigate abrupt events that occurred during transitions between warm-interglacial to cold-glacial conditions of the Quaternary during low ice volume conditions. A key methodological approach of the proposed work is to assess both the response of the surface and deep branches of the AMOC within the same samples that were taken from an exceptionally high-resolution climate archive (DSDP 610). This will allow me to constrain the temporal structure and elucidate mechanisms driving the AMOC during climate events. The proposed research and expected scientific discovery presented here will provide a comprehensive understanding of past environmental changes in connection to ocean circulation and climate variability, supporting improved forecasting abilities and scenario development when estimating the likelihood of an AMOC-related event occurring in the future.

Grant Approved

�72,000.00

Research Hub

n/a

Research Theme

Climate Solutions, Transition Management and Opportunities

Start Date

01/10/2020

Initial Projected Completion Date

01/10/2023