OPP-9817051 OPP-9815738 OPP-9817806 DARBY, DENNIS DWYER, GARY POORE, RICHARD OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY DUKE UNIVERSITY USGS
OPP-9817053 OPP-9817054 McMANUS, JAMES POLYAK, LEONID OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
This research project will utilize microfossils and sediment properties to reconstruct the paleoceanography of the Arctic Ocean using available sediment cores for the period 50-100 thousand years before present. They will examine the past variability and sensitivity of surface water physical characteristics, the history of the halocline and perennial ice cover, and the fate of organic carbon produced on shelves and slopes as well as variations in surface-water productivity and subsurface structure and circulation of the western Arctic Ocean. The reconstruction of past conditions will provide a picture of how the Arctic Ocean evolved under the known climate conditions for the past 50-100 thousand years. The results will be used to predict how the transport of of carbon from continental shelves to the deep basin might proceed until changed climate conditions. The results of this project will provide input for planning a large Phase 2 field program of the Shelf Basin Interactions project in 2002.
