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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Cardiff University President's Scholarship in Climate Change

Overview

Cardiff University President's Research Scholarship: Abrupt climate change and glacial terminations (Climate Change Project) (PhD Studentship)

Key Studentship Information

This is a Cardiff University President's Research Scholarship, part of a new £4M investment to coincide with the inauguration of Professor Sir Martin Evans (Nobel Prize for Medicine 2007) as Cardiff’s new President. All of the University Schools and Research Centres offering opportunities under the programme have demonstrated the real potential of the Scholarships to contribute to research excellence through significant, challenging and original PhD research projects and excellent PhD supervision and support. Other attractive features of the Scholarships include the presence of multiple President’s Scholars in each of the research areas and the guaranteed exposure of President’s Scholars to innovative technologies, theories, methodological approaches, and debates. More information on the President's Research Scholarships scheme is available here: www.cardiff.ac.uk/presidents

Project Title: Abrupt climate change and glacial terminations

Project Description:

Background: Ice core records from Greenland and Antarctica tell us that millennial-scale climate change during the last glacial and deglacial periods involved the interplay between high northern and southern latitudes, probably via changes in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. New records from the South Atlantic / Southern Ocean (SA/SO) suggest that changes here were equally abrupt as those in the North Atlantic and could have contributed toward global warming during deglaciation by the release of CO2. This project will investigate sub-millennial scale changes in the surface ocean and deep waters within the SA/SO region during earlier glacial and deglacial periods of the Pleistocene to test this hypothesis.


The Southern Ocean connects the major oceans of the world together via the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the largest of all ocean currents. Changes in the Southern Ocean region are thought to play a central role in global climate change on glacial-interglacial, millennial and perhaps even shorter timescales. Improving our understanding of this role is critical for understanding how Earth's climate operates (both in the past and the future).

Work Programme: The project will involve the application of multiple paleoceanographic methods to high sedimentation rate marine sediment cores. These techniques may include foraminiferal faunal counts, diatom assemblages stable isotope measurements and geochemical techniques (e.g. trace elements in foraminiferal calcite and Nd isotopes). The combination of several proxies for both surface and deep water conditions will provide a powerful approach for reconstructing the important processes at work.

Supervision strategy: The student will be fully trained in micropalaeontology, geochemical and sedimentological techniques for reconstructing ocean history. This training will be provided in-house or through pre-arranged collaboration with co-workers in other UK institutions. It is envisaged that the student will have the opportunity to gain seagoing experience.

References:

Barker, S., et al. (2009), Interhemispheric Atlantic seesaw response during the last deglaciation, Nature, 457, 1097-1102.

Barker, S., et al. (2010), Extreme deepening of the Atlantic overturning circulation during deglaciation, Nature Geoscience, 3, 567-571 doi: 510.1038/NGEO1921.

Cheng, H., et al. (2009), Ice Age Terminations, Science, 326, 248-252.
EPICA (2006), One-to-one coupling of glacial climate variability in Greenland and Antarctica, Nature, 444, 195-198.

McManus, J. F., et al. (2004), Collapse and rapid resumption of Atlantic meridional circulation linked to deglacial climate changes, Nature, 428, 834-837.

Supervisor: Dr Stephen Barker, Professor Ian Hall, Dr Jenny Pike and Dr Tina van de Flierdt (Imperial College, London)

Start Date: 1st October 2011

Funding

The award will cover tuition fees at the Home/EU fee rate and will provide a stipend at the UK Research Council rate (£13,590 for 2010/11).

Number of Awards Available: 1

Eligibility

Academic Criteria: Applicants must have a First Class Honours degree or a 2.1 plus a postgraduate Masters degree at Distinction level (or their equivalents) in a relevant subject.

Applicants whose first language is not English will be required to demonstrate proficiency in the English language (IELTS 6.5 or equivalent).

Residency: Open to all UK/EU students without further restrictions.

How to Apply

A CV and Covering Letter are required in the first instance (followed by a standard application for postgraduate study)

Applicants should then apply using the Online Application Service at www.cardiff.ac.uk/apply.

Application Deadline: 28th January 2011

Further Information

For more information contact Liesbeth Diaz.
Email: Diaz@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)29 2087 5772

Website: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/earth/degreeprogrammes/postgraduateresearch/fullyfunded/index.html


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Scholarship Team: Ph.D Scholar Krisstofferson Joniel Scholarship Adviser, PhD Scholar Vitom Chea Scholarship Adviser, PhD Scholar Rebecca T. Dalisay Scholarship Adviser, Ph.D Student Jiao Wang Scholarship Coordinator, MSc Student Dennise Maricel Scholarship Coordinator
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Scholarship Team: Ph.D Scholar Krisstofferson Joniel Scholarship Adviser, PhD Scholar Chea Vitom Scholarship Adviser and Senior Lecturer, PhD Scholar Rebecca T. Dalisay Scholarship Adviser, Ph.D Student Jiao Wang Scholarship Coordinator, MSc Student Dennise Maricel Scholarship Coordinator