The aim of this collaborative project is to reconstruct long-term and short-term changes in the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) using high-growth rate, precisely dated speleothems from caves in Borneo. Using the speleothems, the researchers would produce 150- to 300-year time series of changes in delta 18-Oxygen for five key time periods during the Holocene.
The research addresses several science questions, such as: 1) Was ENSO absent or just weaker in the early Holocene? 2) Did the frequency or magnitude of El Nino events change on centennial time scales during the late Holocene? 3) Were low-frequency changes in western equatorial Pacific precipitation driven by ENSO or by migration of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)? and 4) Can the impact of ENSO on tropical rain forest productivity be detected using speleotherm stable isotopic records?
The broader impacts include the training off a female postdoctoral researcher and the mentoring of undergraduates involved with the research project. Data would be archived at the National Climatic Data Center.
