Supervisors info:
Τριανταφύλλου Μαρία, Καθηγήτρια, Γεωλογίας και Γεωπεριβάλλοντος,ΕΚΠΑ
Δήμιζα Μαργαρίτα, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Γεωλογίας και Γεωπεριβάλλοντος,ΕΚΠΑ
Γώγου Αλεξάνδρα, Διευθύντρια Ερευνών,ΕΛΚΕΘΕ
Summary:
During the last decades, a variety of scientific studies have shown and supported that marine sediments preserve a wealth of information for the reconstruction of ocean and climate history in the form of their microfossil assemblage, organic matter, elemental and isotopic composition of fossils. Nowadays, it is possible to combine data from marine sediment analysis and climatic models to provide even more information about the paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic conditions of an area of interest.
This research focuses on reconstructing past climatic changes of the North Aegean, due to its unique physical and geographic characteristics with the use of climate models and marine fossil analysis.
The high resolution marine record established for the past 1500 years in the North Aegean Sea, Greece (multicore M2, Athos basin, 1018 m depth) was used to provide palaeoclimatic data from the fluctuations of the isotopic signal of the planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber. In addition, changes in dissolved oxygen concentrations in the pore and bottom waters at the same site, were obtained by relative abundance of the benthic foraminiferal low oxygen indicators and the subsequent calculation of Low Oxygen -index. Also, the multicore M3, retrieved from Skyros basin, was used to provide alkenone Sea Surface Temperatures for 1600 to 600 BC.
The climatic model data were provided from the simulations of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) for the last 2000 years. In particular, the MPI-ESM-P-p2k, the MPI-ESM-P r1 and the CCSM4 r1 simulations for this specific area were analyzed on annual and seasonal resolution. Via the analysis, short-term changes in temperature and humidity were examined and correlated with the d 18OG.ruber isotopic signal in relation to alkenone Sea Surface Temperature record, the upper water column Stratification index and the bottom waters Low-Oxygen index. Through this multi proxy methodology the climatic conditions of the Roman Warm Period, the Dark Ages, the Late Antique Little Ice Age, the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age were sufficiently coupled with the paleoceanographic-paleoclimatic reconstruction for the North Aegean Sea.
Keywords:
Paleoceanography,North Aegean,Foraminiferal analysis,PaleoClimate Model Reconstructions
