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Snow Antarctic Mean Isotopic Record

Project description

Solving Antarctica’s climate secrets

The impact of climate change is most severe in polar regions, where feedback loops cause rapid warming. In Antarctica, the lack of long-term weather data makes it difficult to understand how the climate changes over time. This is important for studying the influence of human-caused climate change. It is also unclear whether climate variability in polar regions will grow, which could have global effects. With this in mind, the ERC-funded SAMIR project aims to solve these problems by studying Antarctic climate using ice cores. The project will use advanced infrared technology to analyse ice cores with higher precision and speed. This will allow researchers to better understand how Antarctica’s climate is responding to global warming.

Objective

The impact of climate change is the largest in polar regions, due to multiple feedback loops leading to polar amplification. In Antarctica, short meteorological time series hamper our ability to evaluate the climate variability at interannual and decadal scale, and in particular the one linked with the anthropogenic climate change. It is also not clear though whether climate variability in polar region will increase, despite significant consequences on the global climate system. In this proposal, I will evaluate how climate variability in Antarctica varies for changing climatic conditions, using ice core isotopic composition (18O, d-excess and 17O-excess). The objectives of this project are to study the climate variability thanks to a large network of ice core records at high resolution and high precision. A large number of ice cores are available through large European projects (Beyond EPICA Oldest Ice (BE-OI), EAIIST, ) but the analytical platform to measure all this ice at high precision is missing. By implementing the new generation of infrared spectrometer in an ice core measuring line, we will be able to increase both the throughput and precision, and measure triple isotopic composition on a large number of cores and resolve the climate variability in Antarctica.

Programme(s)

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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.

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.

HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG

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Host institution

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 902 435,50
Total cost

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.

€ 1 976 593,00

Beneficiaries (2)

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