Project Description:
The last deglaciation (beginning ~21 thousand years ago) is period consisting of large-scale ice sheet melt, rising summer solar insolation, increasing greenhouse gas concentrations, and warming surface air temperatures. This relatively smooth transition from the Last Glacial Maximum (when ice sheets were at their largest extent) is also accompanied by well-documented abrupt climate change events, often described as shifts from one climate state to another. Other abrupt climate events, known as Dansgaard-Oeschger events, are also observed further back in time, during the last 100 thousand years. However, despite the ability to identify these events in temperature proxy records, precisely how they occurred, what triggered them, and if they are linked is still debated. Regardless of the disagreement on the causal mechanisms of abrupt climate transitions, the importance of understanding how they transpired to predict their potential recurrence is widely agreed upon.
Within our research group, current research is being performed to further understand these abrupt events and how to simulate them using complex numerical earth system models and comparisons to observational data. We also focus on establishing links between climate feedbacks, i.e., processes in which one change in the climate system triggers a response that can either amplify or dampen the original effect, and their outcomes. We have previously compared results of multiple models to assist with evaluating model performance and laying a foundation for testing and building new hypotheses. We have also investigated the impact of climate feedbacks on ocean circulation, a component of the climate that is strongly correlated with temperature changes, such as Dansgaard-Oeschger events.
For this project, we plan to dive deeper into understanding climate feedbacks during abrupt climate changes in the last deglaciation using earth system model simulations. You will have the opportunity to investigate aspects of the climate such as precipitation changes, variations in ocean temperature and salinity, and atmospheric circulation patterns, and how they are impacted by rapid transitions in the climate. During this 6-week research project you will: – Be involved in new and impactful research in the paleoclimate community – Learn about how to run climate models and ice sheet models – Analyse and visualise complex earth system model data using Python programming and Linux computing – Attend research group meetings with other climate scientists in the institute to learn more about other research projects and discuss new ideas – Observe the day-in-the-life of a PhD student and the academic community.
Pre-requisites
Experience of python programming and Linux computing
Supervisory Team
Brooke Snoll
Contact
Brooke Snoll: b.snoll@leeds.ac.uk
How to apply
- Complete the online REP application form one for each project of interest.
- Email a copy of your CV to yes-dtn@leeds.ac.uk (only once is needed).
- Complete the EDI Form (only one is needed). Although this is optional, if places are over-subscribed, preference will be given to under-represented groups, as defined above.