Dr. Davin Wallace has been granted an NSF EAR Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct research and develop an integrated educational plan at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution/MIT. He will investigate hurricane impacts over the past 10,000 years in the western Atlantic basin by conducting a paleotempestological study on the island of Bermuda. During modern times, the historic record tells us that a significant amount of Atlantic hurricanes recurve basin ward and never make landfall on coastlines, with the exception of Bermuda. Previous paleohurricane studies have been located along the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and Atlantic Oceans, and the addition of this site would therefore shed light on the total paleohurricane frequency in the western Atlantic Basin over the Holocene. Dr. Wallace will collect sediment cores in several coastal ponds and analyze them for grain size variations, as coarse sediment represents storm-induced transport from nearby beaches. To establish an accurate chronology of these events, he will analyze these cores using radiocarbon and short-lived isotope analyses. Finally, he will model both the paleointensities of each event and the response of hurricanes to past climate variations.
Each year, hurricanes annually impact Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and Atlantic coastlines. However, we have only a short reliable historical record of hurricane impacts. By understanding the interaction between paleohurricanes and past known climate changes over the western Atlantic Basin, we can use this information to predict hurricane formations and impacts in the future. Also, establishing a long-term hurricane record for the western Atlantic will help bridge the gap between field and modeling based paleoclimate studies, as models become better calibrated with additional data. Further, this work can be used to interpret changes over historic time in the context of a longer geologic record. Dr. Wallace will participate in the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Sea Grant program, in addition to leading several workshops for K-12 educators for this group. This outreach effort will focus on activities and learning approaches associated with the results of this project. He will also participate in videoconferences with a group of science teachers in a cohort of teachers from Texas to discuss this work.
