Oster, Corinna

During my PhD project I study geochemical proxies in the skeleton of modern shallow-water corals (Porites) from Tahiti and fossil specimens of the last deglaciation drilled by IODP Expedition 310 `Tahiti Sea Level´ in the tropical South Pacific Ocean. The major aim is the reconstruction of tropical Pacific temperature seasonality and mean climate during the last deglaciation with a specific focus on meltwater pulse (MWP) 1 A (~ 14.5 kyr ago). The modern corals will allow improved uncertainty estimates of the temperature reconstructions derived from the fossil corals. The main hypothesis is to test if tropical Pacific temperature seasonality was controlled mainly by orbital insolation changes during the last deglaciation and MWP-1A. The latter is characterized by abrupt sea-level rise, climate change, and substantial climate perturbations. The proxy data will be compared with climate model simulations. The results will contribute to a further understanding of the seasonal response of tropical Pacific climate variability to mean climate change and abrupt perturbations on glacial-interglacial timescales.