U.S.-Argentina: Andean Glaciation Field Conference; March 25-April 11, 1989

This award supports an international workshop on Andean glaciation to be held in the field in Argentina and Chile from March 25 to April 11, 1989. The fieldtrip will begin in Ushuaia, proceed to Lago Argentina, Bariloche, Isla de Chiloe and end in Mendoza. About half of the 20 participants are from South America: the others from North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The principal investigators are Wallace Broecker of the Lamont-Doherty Climate Center at Columbia University and Jorge Rabassa, Director of CADIC (Southern Center for Scientific Investigation) in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. The glacial record in the southern Andes will be reviewed for evidence of a link between glacial and climatic cycles in the northern and southern hemispheres. Available glacial and paleobotanical evidence suggest that these events may be synchronous. If so, this can only be explained by a massive reorganization of the atmosphere-ocean system. This international group of experts will review controversial field evidence which forms the basis for the history of Andean mountain glaciation. Future cooperative, multidisciplinary research will focus on solving the basic problem of climate forcing between the hemispheres.