Descripción del proyecto
Observaciones de isótopos para una simulación climática de la Antártida
Modelar el complejo sistema de acoplamiento que acelera la tasa de pérdida de hielo en la Antártida puede mejorar las predicciones sobre el aumento del nivel del mar. Sin embargo, la falta de mediciones observacionales directas necesarias para evaluar y mejorar los modelos climáticos globales impide realizar simulaciones del futuro de la capa de hielo de la Antártida. Las señales isotópicas contenidas en los testigos de hielo de la Antártida pueden registrar la variabilidad climática, pero tienen un rendimiento limitado en la simulación de procesos polares específicos. El proyecto POLARISO, financiado con fondos europeos, combina avances en modelización climática de la Antártida y avances en la medición sucesiva de isótopos de agua en vapor de agua y precipitación en la Antártida para ofrecer funciones de transferencia sólidas entre los modelos climáticos y la alterabilidad de los isótopos del agua, lo que permite nuevas simulaciones climáticas a partir de testigos de hielo antárticos profundos y superficiales.
Objetivo
The rate of Antarctic ice loss is accelerating and reached 20% of the global sea level rise in 2012–2017. This acceleration is attributed to the coupling between atmosphere, ocean, and ice sheet dynamics. Intensive efforts are in place for modelling this complex coupled system, which is the only valid approach to improve sea level rise projections. However, the greatest uncertainty in simulating the future of the Antarctic ice sheet is due to the lack of direct observational constraints required to evaluate and improve global climate models. The isotopic signals contained in Antarctic ice cores have high potential to record the climate variability of recent centuries as water stable isotopes are tracers of the whole water cycle pathway. However, linking the isotopic signal to climate patterns requires to use isotope-enabled climate models, which are currently limited by their poor skills in simulating polar-specific processes.
The POLARISO project aims to overcome this major limitation by implementing water stable isotopes in a polar-oriented regional climate model, which will be evaluated with new isotope observations in Antarctica. We will then use the validated simulations to identify large scale drivers of the isotope variability at the Antarctic surface. This project is based on a synergy between advances in Antarctic climate modelling (PI) and advances in continuous measurements of water isotopes in water vapor and precipitation in Antarctica (host). The POLARISO project will provide robust transfer functions between climate modes and water isotope variability, which will open doors for new climate reconstructions based on water isotope measurements in Antarctic deep and shallow ice cores. It will also enable the PI to reach an independent leading position by developing an internationally unique expertise on polar regional modelling equipped with water isotopes, dedicated to model-data studies.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinador
75794 Paris
Francia