Research Objectives:
The goals of this project are to collect and develop high-resolution ice core records from the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica, and provide interpretations of interannual to decadal-scale climate variability during the last 2000 years (late Holocene). In particular, researchers seek to test hypotheses related to ocean/atmosphere teleconnections (e.g., El Nino Southern Oscillation, Antarctic Oscillation) that may be responsible for major late Holocene climate events such as the Little Ice Age in the Southern Hemisphere. The primary research objectives for this austral summer season are to recover intermediate length (150-200 meter) ice cores from two sites the Taylor/Wright Valley region (Clark and Commonwealth Glaciers) and to conduct additional glaciological and meteorological data collection at each site.
Conceptual and quantitative models of these processes in the Dry Valleys during the late Holocene are critical for understanding recent climate changes. 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.
