Is there a climatic tipping point for Antarctic Bottom Water formation? Antarctic Bottom Water plays an important role in global ocean circulation and climate and yet its formation is also highly sensitive to climate change. This project will analyse new seafloor, core and water samples from the understudied Cape Darnley, East Antarctica, collected on a voyage in early 2022. This new data will be used in combination with an improved high resolution regional ocean model, to understand modern and ....Is there a climatic tipping point for Antarctic Bottom Water formation? Antarctic Bottom Water plays an important role in global ocean circulation and climate and yet its formation is also highly sensitive to climate change. This project will analyse new seafloor, core and water samples from the understudied Cape Darnley, East Antarctica, collected on a voyage in early 2022. This new data will be used in combination with an improved high resolution regional ocean model, to understand modern and past Antarctic Bottom Water formation under different climate states (warmer and colder than present), to determine if there are climate tipping points for the shut down of Antarctic Bottom Water formation. The anticipated benefits include a better understanding of future climate change on this important water mass.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100279
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$453,000.00
Summary
Did ocean circulation changes build the Antarctic ice sheet? The evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet, from its beginning 34 million years ago (Ma) until today, is critical to our understanding of future climate change. This project aims to improve climate and ocean model simulations of the early Oligocene (30 Ma) and middle Miocene (15 Ma), using higher resolution and more accurate paleogeography than has previously been done. Expected outcomes include improvements to paleoclimate reconstructio ....Did ocean circulation changes build the Antarctic ice sheet? The evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet, from its beginning 34 million years ago (Ma) until today, is critical to our understanding of future climate change. This project aims to improve climate and ocean model simulations of the early Oligocene (30 Ma) and middle Miocene (15 Ma), using higher resolution and more accurate paleogeography than has previously been done. Expected outcomes include improvements to paleoclimate reconstructions, better constraints on future climate change, and a better understanding of the impact of ocean eddies on Antarctic climate. These outcomes should strengthen Australia’s long-term program of climate modelling, and enable more effective climate adaptation, mitigation and risk management.Read moreRead less
What caused abrupt climate change events in the past and what can they tell us about the future? This project will improve our understanding of abrupt climate change in the past, present and future. It will dramatically enhance Australia's capacity to use climate models to assess the probability and associated consequences of abrupt climate change in the future.