PLEASE NOTE: Application deadline date 08 Jan 2024. Applications are no longer being accepted for this project
Project Overview
This project will use annually laminated (varved) lake sediments to reconstruct Holocene sub-decadal summer temperature and carbon cycling. These records can evaluate: (a) different driver-response mechanisms at different timescales; (b) new temperature (including seasonal bias) and carbon cycling proxies; (c) whether past warmer periods enhanced carbon cycling in lakes.
Project Description
Predicting weather for the coming 1-10 years is of great interest for decision makers but predictability skills are limited by the range of climate variability experienced in the last 50 years. This project will use varved lake sediments from sites across Europe (based on the DECADAL project in collaboration with the MetOffice and the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero), as they provide the temporal control required to reconstruct sub-decadal climate variability and test prediction models under other past warmer and cooler periods than today. The PhD candidate will pick key phases of climate from the last c. 10,000 years, from up to 8 European sites, and will explore the role of carbon cycling within the lakes and seasonal/mean annual temperature under different driver backgrounds (e.g., persistent solar minima, weakened thermohaline circulation, and periods of enhanced volcanic activity). The candidate will gain expertise using different temperature proxies, including chironomids (non-biting midges) and lipid biomarkers (e.g., GDGTs). Additionally, they will develop new proxy measurements to reconstruct carbon cycling (e.g. lipid biomarkers/stable isotopes) and will explore whether this led to additional warming during the Holocene. Cores have already been collected, mostly with finalized chronologies, but the candidate will visit the sites they will use, to (a) learn lake coring techniques, and (b) undertake fieldwork to collect contemporary data to aid palaeo-interpretations. The results will be compared to climate model results which simulate the seasonal effect of different drivers on atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic regions.
The INSPIRE DTP programme provides comprehensive personal and professional development training alongside extensive opportunities for students to expand their multi-disciplinary outlook through interactions with a wide network of academic, research and industrial/policy partners. The student will be registered at the University of Southampton and hosted at the School of Geography and Environmental Science. Specific training will include:
Sediment sampling and fieldwork
Microfossil extraction (e.g., chironomids, Cladocera – water fleas) and learning identification taxonomies.
Organic geochemical analyses, including a range of biomarkers, e.g. GDGTs, diols, hopanoid d13C for methane cycling etc. This will enable the student to gain expertise in analytical (geo)chemistry.
Statistical analyses on palaeoenvironmental data (e.g. multivariate analyses, time series analysis and regression functions) and developing computing/coding skills.
The student will also receive an introduction to the incorporation of palaeoclimate proxies on to high resolution time series data via links to project collaborators in RHUL.
Opportunities to work with climate modellers to help facilitate data model comparisons.
The student will also receive wider skills training, such as data visualization and presentation skills, including the opportunity to present at internal/departmental meetings, as well as national/international conferences.
There may be opportunities for placements, notably in policy facing UK government departments and/or agencies, allied with the DECADAL project (current partners).
Harding, P., Martin Puertas, C., Sjolte, J., Walsh, A., Tjallingii, R., Langdon, C., Blockley, S., Brauer, A., Langdon, P., Milner, A., Muscheler, R. & Perez, M. 2023. Wind regime changes in the Euro-Atlantic region driven by Late-Holocene Grand Solar Minima. Climate Dynamics 60: 1947–1961.
Inglis, G.N., Bhattacharya, T., Hemingway, J.D., Hollingsworth, E.H., Feakins, S.J. and Tierney, J.E. 2022. Biomarker Approaches for Reconstructing Terrestrial Environmental Change. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 50: 369-394.
Martin-Puertas, C., Hernandez, A., Pardo-Igúzquiza, E., Boyall, L., Brierley, C., Jiang, Z., Tjallingii, R., Blockley, S.P.E., and Javier Rodríguez-Tovar, F. 2023. Dampened predictable decadal North Atlantic climate fluctuations due to ice melting. Nature Geoscience 16: 357-362.
