Paleo Isotopic Dynamics with a Global Model (PIDGM)

• Main Authors: Coats, S., Duran, B.
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Sea ice
• Online Access: https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5021201

Common Era paleoclimate reconstructions using proxy records for the 18O/2H of environmental waters provide critical context for current and future environmental change. Nevertheless, our understanding of the large-scale atmosphere-ocean dynamics being recorded by these proxies is limited by a lack of observations. The isotope-enabled Community Earth System Model (iCESM) is a state-of-the-art earth system model that simulates variations in water isotopic ratios in the atmosphere, land, ocean, and sea ice. Simulations with iCESM can thus be used in lieu of observations to characterize the dynamics underlying variations in water isotopic ratios at proxy sites. PIDGM is a web-based effort to provide the paleoclimate community with access to output from a suite of forced transient iCESM simulations of the Common Era. Through PIDGM, over 16,000 publication-quality figures will be made available, spanning 4 different timescales of variability and 7 different seasonal averaging intervals, for the 606 proxy sites that are a part of the iso2k project (Konecky et al., ESSD, 2020). These figures demonstrate the hydroclimatic, as well as atmospheric and oceanic conditions, leading to proxy site-level variations in water isotopic ratios in iCESM. Users will also be able to generate similar figures but for any location and with a number of customizable options, including the ability to analyze 50+ modes of climate variability. Our hope is that PIDGM will help the paleoclimate community to locate optimal proxy sites for future development, investigate the dynamics, across seasons and timescales, that underlie signals in currently available proxy records, and much more.