Project CELIA: Climate and Environment of the Last Interglacial (Isotope Stage 5) in Arctic and Subarctic North America

• Main Author: Brigham-Grette, Julie
• Other Authors: MASSACHUSETTS UNIV AMHERST
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1992
• Subjects: Geography; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Meteorology; *CLIMATE; *ENVIRONMENTS; *HIGH LATITUDES; *ISOTOPES; *GLACIERS; *NORTH AMERICA; *POLAR REGIONS; ADDITION; ATMOSPHERICS; BEARINGS; CORES; DISTRIBUTION; GLOBAL; HYPOTHESES; ICE; ICE CAPS; INTERNATIONAL; LATITUDE; MODELS; OCEANS; OXYGEN; PATTERNS; PERMAFROST; POLLEN; RECORDS; REFINING; SCIENTISTS; SEA ICE; SEA LEVEL; SEQUENCES; SIMULATION; STRATIGRAPHY; TIME; TREES; UNIVERSITIES; VALUE; VEGETATION; VOLUME; SYMPOSIA; Component Reports; *Project CELIA; Isotope stage 5; *Global changes; Geochronology; *Proxy data; *Natural climate changes; Terrestrial environments; Arctic; Fairbanks; Climate change; glaciers; Global warming; Ice; permafrost; Sea ice; Subarctic; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADP007352; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADP007352

Stage 5e of the marine oxygen isotope record is the last time when world ice volume was lower, sea level was higher, and world climate warmer than during any part of the Holocene. To develop more accurate proxy data for natural climate change during the last interglacial, a multidisciplinary group of scientists working as regional teams has developed Project CELIA to generate and synthesize knowledge for this period from high latitude terrestrial and nearshore marine environments. We have cited 13 terrestrial sequences distributed across the Arctic and Subarctic for detailed study based upon well-exposed stratigraphy, abundance of organic remains, and geochronological potential. In addition, information from select marine cores bearing terrestrial pollen and ice cores from Devon and Agassiz Ice Caps will also be incorporated. These data will highlight regional changes in vegetation patterns, tree line position, permafrost distribution, and sea ice conditions from which ocean/atmospheric changes can be inferred. This information will be of value for testing hypotheses generated by GCMs and other simulations of interglacial conditions, refining such models and providing insight to future environments resulting from global warming. CELIA will be carried out over the next 5 years and will be directed by an international board of experts under the auspices of the University of Alberta's Canadian Circumpolar Institute. This article is from 'Proceedings of the International Conference on the Role of Polar Regions in Global Change Held in Fairbanks, Alaska on 11-15 June 1990. Volume 2', AD-A253 028, p644-648. See also Volume 1, AD-A253 027.