U.S.-France Cooperative Research: Southern Ocean Paleoclimatology

This two-year award supports U.S.-France cooperative research in climate dynamics and paleoclimatology and involves Douglas Martinson and William Howard of Columbia University's Lamont- Doherty Geological Observatory and Laurent Labeyrie of the Centre des Faibles Radioactivites, the French National Center for Scientific Research. The investigators will study problems of Quaternary climate dynamics and geochronology in Antarctic deep- sea cores. The objectives of their research are to integrate and synthesize data sets and to advance knowledge of the temporal and spatial patterns of physical climate and the geochemical changes. Researchers in the U.S. and France have made significant progress in understanding the role of the Southern Ocean in Quaternary climate change and in modulating atmospheric chemistry. Deep-sea cores in the French and U.S. collections are well suited for complementary studies. The French group has extensive experience with cores which cover the last 160,000 years at resolutions of 1000 years and less. Whereas, the U.S. researchers have analyzed and studied paleoclimate records which cover the past 400,000 to 500,000 years at resolutions of 3000-5000 years. Through the proposed program, the investigators will have access to new French cores with a range of age intervals and resolutions. Their efforts will place both the French and U.S. records on common time scales, and provide a synthesis of the paleoecological and geochemical records.