AWI.de
Sea ice is a crucial component of the polar climate system with the potential to influence climate at global scale. It is therefore critical that it should be correctly specified as a forcing or predicted as a feedback in model studies. Proxy data are indispensable for extending the sea ice record (extent, seasonality) in time to document its natural variability prior to instrumental observations (since 1978 through satellite observations). In marine records, proxies, such as diatom or dinoflagellate cyst assemblages and organic biomarker occurrence, have been used successfully, but other microfossil-based proxies have also been tested. In ice cores, two chemical proxies (methanesulfonic acid, sea salt) have been proposed. However, there remain uncertainties on the reliability of each proxy, and insufficient knowledge of the modern processes that drive the proxies.
The third SIP workshop will build on the progress made during the first two workshops that focused on the assessment of different proxies, the development of a strategy for multi-proxy compilation and the definition of key data sets. Part of this progress is presented in the Quaternary Science Reviews special issue vol. 79 published in 2013.
Aims
Consequently we envision three main aims for the third workshop:
1. Evaluation of results from multi-proxy comparisons launched during the second meeting to allow for better understanding of the significance of different proxies and related errors of estimate.
2. Generation of syntheses documenting sea ice a) at selected time slices (e.g. Holocene, LGM, MIS5, MIS6), b) on time series showing Quaternary trends and specific patterns at terminations, warm and cold climate conditions, and c) to describe the interplay between north and south polar sea ice development in relation to ice-ocean-atmosphere forcing.
3. Comparison of proxy data with sea ice modelling to test both, data and models and to advance our understanding of sea ice related physical processes that impact the climate system.
This will be accompanied by brief sessions a) on the current progress in sea ice proxy development and related estimation methods, and b) on the development of sea ice proxies for pre-Quaternary sea ice reconstruction, a yet little explored field of research.
Contact information
Aysel (phone +49 (0)471-4831-1135) speaks perfect English and in case of technical questions she may provide help. Other questions about the workshop go to Rainer.Gersonde@awi.de but can also be addressed to Eric Wolff (ew428@cam.ac.uk) or Anne de Vernal (devernal.anne@uqam.ca).
Meeting material
> SIP 3 Agenda (including a list of participants)
> SIP3 Circular (including a Bremen-Bremerhaven train schedule for Sunday June 22 and maps indicating the pathway from Hotel Haverkamp to our meeting place in AWI-building F (Glashaus).
Post-meeting material