Objective Speleothems (cave deposits, e.g. stalagmites) represent unique terrestrial archives that allow for accurately dated, high-resolution (often annual), continuous and long (many millennia) climate reconstructions. Such records are vital for understanding how climate varies and how our environments respond on seasonal to millennial timescales. However, current speleothem studies can only make qualitative inferences about climate parameters – i.e. they can tell us the direction of change (warmer, drier, etc.) but not the amount of change (how warm? how dry?). Quantitative information is crucial to make speleothem-based data more useful to climate modellers and policy makers.QUEST (QUantitative palaeoEnvironments from SpeleoThems) will develop new techniques for extracting quantitative information from speleothems and link field and laboratory experiments on water/mineral chemistry with innovative physical and numerical analyses on speleothems. The combination of these techniques, based on physical and chemical properties and statistical methods, will allow us to deliver quantitative reconstructions of two key parameters: hydrology and temperature. We will test our methods using speleothems from Australasia, a region vulnerable to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability. At present, there is a relative dearth of millennial-scale palaeoclimate data from this region.Our team members come from a variety of backgrounds including environmental chemistry, environmental mineral magnetism, and numerical data analysis. Each group within the team has already begun developing innovative methods for palaeoclimate reconstruction within their own subfield, but this project will be the first time these methods are combined and applied collectively to speleothems. Our combination of interdisciplinary expertise, state-of-the-art instrumentation, and novel techniques means that we are ideally placed to develop quantitative climate records from speleothems. Fields of science natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata sciencenatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changesel niñonatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeologygeomorphologyspeleologynatural sciencesmathematicsapplied mathematicsnumerical analysisnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeologypetrologypetrography Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.3. - Stimulating innovation by means of cross-fertilisation of knowledge Topic(s) MSCA-RISE-2015 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-RISE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) Coordinator THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Net EU contribution € 18 000,00 Address Trinity lane the old schools CB2 1TN Cambridge United Kingdom See on map Region East of England East Anglia Cambridgeshire CC Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 Participants (3) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all POTSDAM-INSTITUT FUR KLIMAFOLGENFORSCHUNG EV Germany Net EU contribution € 45 000,00 Address Telegrafenberg a31 14473 Potsdam See on map Region Brandenburg Brandenburg Potsdam Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 JOHANNES GUTENBERG-UNIVERSITAT MAINZ Germany Net EU contribution € 49 500,00 Address Saarstrasse 21 55122 Mainz See on map Region Rheinland-Pfalz Rheinhessen-Pfalz Mainz, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 RUHR-UNIVERSITAET BOCHUM Germany Net EU contribution € 31 500,00 Address Universitaetsstrasse 150 44801 Bochum See on map Region Nordrhein-Westfalen Arnsberg Bochum, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 Partners (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all Partner Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement. UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO New Zealand Net EU contribution € 0,00 Address Hillcrest road block b 2020 Hamilton See on map Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 85 500,00
