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How salty was the Mediterranean Outflow Water?

Descripción del proyecto

Estudio de la salinidad del agua saliente del Mediterráneo en el pasado

La temperatura y la salinidad son variables fundamentales del agua de mar, ya que tienen un marcado efecto sobre los ecosistemas marinos y el cambio climático al regular la circulación termohalina mundial en el océano Atlántico. De las dos, la salinidad es la que menos se ha estudiado. Teniendo esto en cuenta, el equipo del proyecto HowMOW, financiado por las acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, pretende examinar un nuevo indicador de salinidad. Para ello, se generarán variables geoquímicas a partir de microfósiles marinos calcáreos que permitirán reconstruir las variaciones pasadas de salinidad del agua saliente del Mediterráneo (MOW, por sus siglas en inglés), que desempeña un papel fundamental en la circulación termohalina mundial. El objetivo es desarrollar una nueva herramienta para estudiar y mejorar la comprensión de las variaciones climáticas acontecidas en el pasado.

Objetivo

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.

Coordinador

CENTRO DE CIENCIAS DO MAR DO ALGARVE
Aportación neta de la UEn
€ 172 618,56
Dirección
UNIVERSIDADE DO ALGARVE
8005-139 FARO
Portugal

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Continente Algarve Algarve
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