Objective
It is widely acknowledged that polar sea ice plays a critical role in global climate change. As such, sea ice reconstructions are of paramount importance in establishing climatic evolution of the geological past. In the current project, some well characterised organic chemicals (biomarkers) from microalgae will be used as proxy indicators of current and past sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. These biomarkers, so-called highly branched isoprenoids (HBIs), possess a number of characteristics that make them attractive as sea ice proxies. Firstly, some HBIs are unique to sea ice diatoms, so their presence in polar sediments can be directly correlated with the previous occurrence of sea ice. Secondly, they are relatively resistant to degradation, which extends their usefulness in the geological record. Thirdly, their relative abundance makes them straightforward to measure with a high degree of geological resolution. One component of this project will consist of performing regional calibrations of the proxies. Concentrations of selected biomarkers in recent Arctic and Antarctic sediments will be correlated with the sea ice abundances determined using satellite technology over the last 30 years. The successful calibration of the proxies will then enable reconstructions of past sea ice extents to be performed at unprecedented high resolution. Sediment cores will be obtained from key locations across both of the Arctic and Antarctic regions and the data derived from these studies will be used for climate modelling studies. As a complement to these physico-chemical studies on sea ice, a second component of the project will investigate the use of these biomarkers for studying sea ice-biota interactions and, by examining the transfer of these chemicals through food chains, new tools for determining the consequences of future climate change on polar ecosystems will be established.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering vehicle engineering aerospace engineering satellite technology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules lipids
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences climatology climatic changes
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
ERC-2007-StG
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Host institution
75794 PARIS
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.