Funding is requested to support research on sediment cores obtained from eastern Greenland during a joint USA/Norwegian research cruise. The objectives of the proposal are to: 1) Document ice sheet/slope/deep-sea sediment transfers and interactions for the East Greenland/Denmark Strait margin over the last 30ka; 2) Test different hypotheses for the extent of the East Greenland ice sheet's margin during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the timing of retreat; and 3) Develop and interpret high-resolution marine records (decadal to centuries time-scales) of changes in the character of the surface water (East Greenland Current) and bottom water (Arctic Intermediate Water) over at least the last 14ka, and how these data reflect paleoceanogrphic changes in the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans. The core on the shelf and slope are firmly placed in a seismic stratigraphic framework both from previous surveys and during core collection in 1996. The choice of the core sites was designed to 1) test two contrasting models for the extent of glacial ice on the south-central east Greenland margin during and since the LGM and to 2) investigate the paleoceanography and ice-sheet/ocean interactions across the Denmark Strait "gateway" between the Arctic and the North Atlantic over the interval of record (the last 30 ka). The extent of the East Greenland ice margin flanking Denmark Strait during the last glaciation is virtually unknown, yet this extent and the timing of deglaciation are important parameters for understanding the past changes in ocean circulation through the Denmark Strait, and the role of this ice margin in Heinrich events, meltwater spikes, and other abrupt climate changes during the glacial period. The research thrust for the Holocene is to document paleoceanographic and glacial conditions in the fjords and on the shelf, and to compare these reconstructions with other paleoclimate data such as the ( 18( record from Renland ice core, and the "Little Ice Age" events under study from the t errestrial neoglacial record. The results of these studies will help us to understand how, why, and how quickly the environment has changed in this region during the Holocene.
