Objective
The general pattern of Late Glacial glacier advances is relatively well established at a few type sites in the European Alps. Most research has focused on the Egesen Stadial (ES), equated with the Younger Dryas (c. 12.9 to 11.5 ka BP) as identified from Greenland ice cores. In the Swiss Alps, however, only patchy evidence and few dated ES sites exist, and there is virtually no information on glacier coverage and dynamics; palaeoclimatic or past atmospheric circulation patterns are not known. The latter are known to have differed from those today during the Last Glacial Maximum.
This project addresses important knowledge gaps in that it proposes to:
(1) map the geomorphological and geological evidence of Egesen and other Late Glacial stadials along a N-S and E-W transect through the Swiss Alps,
(2) reconstruct palaeo-glacier dynamics, ice mass extent and palaeoglaciological variables such as the thermal regime of ES palaeo-glaciers using sedimentological field and laboratory analyses and
(3) reconstruct equilibrium line altitudes and from them quantify palaeo-precipitation.
A rigorous dating programme consisting of optically-stimulated luminescence, cosmogenic radio-nuclide and radiocarbon dating will be applied to reliably determine the location of the Egesen moraines throughout the Swiss Alps. Cross-correlation between these methods is likely to yield very accurate and reliable ages. The distribution of ES glaciers will also be used to reconstruct atmospheric circulation patterns.
Quantified palaeoclimatic data, which form the main output of this project, are urgently needed to constrain numerical models used to predict future climate change. In addition to their scientific importance for understanding the climate-glacier interactions at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, a period crucial to the understanding of rapid changes in the Earth's climate system, the results of this project are of societal importance for the prediction of future climate change.
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.
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences meteorology atmospheric circulation
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences climatology climatic changes
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences physical geography glaciology
- natural sciences chemical sciences nuclear chemistry radiation chemistry
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Programme(s)
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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.
FP6-2004-MOBILITY-5
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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.
Coordinator
BERN
Switzerland
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.