Kira_Homola_16_October_2017 |
Homola_16October_2017
Graduate School of Oceanography - OCG 695
16 October, 3:30 PM, Coastal Institute Auditorium
16 October, 3:30 PM, Coastal Institute Auditorium
Kira Homola
Last Glacial Maximum Salinity Reconstruction
Meridional overturning circulation (MOC) impacts climate through its associated heat flux and effect on atmospheric CO2. The goal of this study is to reconstruct water mass compositions and distributions in the western North Atlantic during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), a period when atmospheric CO2 was significantly lower than today. Characterizing the LGM MOC is vital to producing accurate predictions of future MOC to understand feedbacks between climate, ocean circulation, and CO2. LGM water compositions can be reconstructed from sediment pore fluids.
We collected a series of sediment cores during the R/V Knorr Cruise 223, conducted in the fall of 2014, and extracted pore fluids for determination of salinity. We developed a new high-precision salinity method (~0.003 g/kg), based on density, which requires corrections for non-reference seawater composition. We will fully constrain pore water composition to produce a north-south profile of LGM bottom water salinity in the eastern North Atlantic. As salinity is a water mass tracer, this profile will be used to define the principle bottom water masses, allowing us to test hypotheses of density structure.
We collected a series of sediment cores during the R/V Knorr Cruise 223, conducted in the fall of 2014, and extracted pore fluids for determination of salinity. We developed a new high-precision salinity method (~0.003 g/kg), based on density, which requires corrections for non-reference seawater composition. We will fully constrain pore water composition to produce a north-south profile of LGM bottom water salinity in the eastern North Atlantic. As salinity is a water mass tracer, this profile will be used to define the principle bottom water masses, allowing us to test hypotheses of density structure.
Kira Homola received a BS in Oceanography and BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington in 2013. She entered GSO as a PhD student in the fall semester of 2013. Her major professor is Arthur Spivack.