Project Details
Projekt
Subtropical South African hydroclimate during the mid-Piacenzian Warm Period recorded by fynbos vegetation as a test case for climate model performance
Applicant
Dr. Lydie Madeleine Dupont
Subject Area
Palaeontology
Term
from 2018 to 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 407425889
The late Pliocene period between 3.264 and 3.025 Ma called mid-Piancenzian Warm Period (mWPW) is extensively studied by modelers and palaeoclimatologists because it presents a geologic analogue for future warming. Data-model comparisons reveal a mismatch between climate model predictions and palaeorecords: Many climate models predict drier subtropical regions during warm periods with enhanced atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, whereas palaeorecords of the mWPW indicate wetter subtropical regions. However, the available palaeorecords are concentrated on the northern hemisphere and there are no high temporal resolution records for the southern hemisphere. To fill this gap, I propose a study of orbital resolved fluctuations during the mWPW of South African subtropical hydroclimate registered by the pollen from fynbos vegetation in deep-sea marine sediments recovered southwest from Cape Town. The relative importance of two different forcing mechanisms on the climate of subtropical South African will be tested. On one hand, the influence of changes in sea surface temperatures along the west coast of South Africa related to the strength and position of the South Atlantic High. On the other hand, the effect of changes in the latitude of the Antarctic Subtropical Front and associated west wind drift.
DFG Programme
Infrastructure Priority Programmes
International Connection
France
Cooperation Partners
Dr. Thibaut Caley; Dr. Andreas Koutsodendris
