Project description
Studying the salinity of Mediterranean outflow water in the past
Temperature and salinity are crucial seawater parameters as they have a profound impact on marine ecosystems and climate change by regulating global thermohaline circulation in the Atlantic Ocean. Among the two, the salinity aspect remains largely unstudied. In this context, the MSCA-funded HowMOW project aims to explore a new salinity indicator by extracting geochemical components of calcareous marine microfossils to reconstruct past salinity variations of the Mediterranean outflow water (MOW), which plays a vital role in global thermohaline circulation. The goal is to obtain a new tool for studying and improving our understanding of past climate variations.
Objective
Heat and salt are major components of the thermohaline circulation of the global conveyor belt as they regulate the masses of water bodies and and hence ocean-climate dynamics. The thermohaline circulation (THC) has played a significant role in the past climate extremes such as the onset of the Northern Hemisphere Glaciation. Although the temperature component of the THC can be extracted applying various methods such as foraminiferal magnesium/calcium thermometry and alkenone thermometry, salinity information of past seawaters is still among the unknowns in paleoclimate studies due to the lack of a direct paleosalinity proxy. Thus the role of one important salt contributor, the Mediterranean Outflow Water, to the deeper levels of the THC during major climate shifts in the geological record is scarcely documented. To that extent, this research proposal aims at establishing and exploring a new proxy that will allow to extract information on past salinity changes in seawater from deep-sea benthic foraminifers. As second step, I will investigate the role of the Mediterranean Outflow Water in the THC and the shift in ocean-climate dynamics during a well-documented major climate shift, i.e. the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition (1.2-0.7 Million years ago), when the 41-kyr glacial-interglacial cycles were replaced with 100-kyr abrupt cycles. Execution of this project will allow me to enhance my scientific portfolio by learning a new technical instrument, joining a new research group in an internationally fast-growing research center, having the opportunity to manage my own research budget, and benefitting from the experience of the chosen supervisor, which are positive impacts for an early career scientist in becoming an established independent researcher.
Fields of science
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencespalaeontologypaleoclimatology
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistryalkaline earth metals
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesphysical geographyglaciology
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
8005-139 FARO
Portugal