The researcher, and colleagues, will use a systematic modeling approach to disentangle the controlling forcing functions, as well as amplifying mechanisms, of millennial and glacial-interglacial climate variability. The general scientific goal of the research is an improved understanding of the dynamic role of physical and biogeochemical processes during the transition from the last glacial into the Holocene.
Specifically, the researcher will use a global three-dimensional dynamical atmosphere-ocean-sea ice model of intermediate complexity coupled to a vegetation model and a marine carbon cycle model to develop transient simulations covering the last glacial termination and the entire Holocene period. The model simulation output will be directly compared, in terms of amplitude, timing and seasonality, with publicly available marine, as well as terrestrial, proxy archives involving data from sediment cores, ice cores, speleothems, and lake-level indices.
The research strategy is designed to pursue the following scientific questions: How does the global carbon cycle respond to orbitally-driven climate variations? How important are orbitally-induced changes of the southern hemispheric westerlies in driving atmospheric carbon dioxide variations? What role does the carbon cycle response play in accelerating glacial-interglacial transitions? What role does the carbon cycle play in modulating millennial-scale climate variability during the last glacial period?
The research will help to improve the wider science community''s understanding of the radiative sensitivity of Earth with possible implications for the understanding of future climate. The research strategy will specifically help differentiate, regionally, between various climate forcing factors and aid further efforts to interpret paleo-proxy data from the last glacial period. The research project will also enable the training of a postdoctoral scholar and a graduate student in paleoclimate modeling and data analyses.
