Research Objectives:
We will collect and develop high-resolution ice-core records from the Dry Valleys in southern Victoria Land and provide interpretations of interannual to decadal climate variability during the past 2,000 years (late Holocene). We will test hypotheses related to ocean/atmosphere teleconnections (e.g., El Niño Southern Oscillation, Antarctic Oscillation) that may be responsible for major late Holocene climate events such as the Little Ice Age in the Southern Hemisphere.
Conceptual and quantitative models of these processes in the Dry Valleys during the late Holocene are critical for understanding recent climate changes. We plan to collect intermediate-length ice cores (100 to 200 meters) at four sites along transects in Taylor and Wright Valleys and analyze each core at high resolution for stable isotopes, major ions, and trace elements. A suite of statistical techniques will be applied to the multivariate glaciochemical data set to identify chemical associations and to calibrate the time-series records with available instrumental data.
Broader impacts of the project include
+ contributions to several ongoing interdisciplinary antarctic research programs;
+ graduate and undergraduate student involvement in field, laboratory, and data interpretation activities;
+ use of project data and ideas in several University of Maine courses and outreach activities; and
+ data dissemination through peer-reviewed publications, University of Maine and other paleoclimate data archive Web sites, and presentations at national and international meetings.
