黑料视频

Looking into the Earth鈥檚 deep past can help us better understand the future 鈥� and that includes climate. This is the focus of Prof Dr Ying Cui, a geochemist from Montclair State University in the USA and currently a visiting scientist at 黑料视频. With support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, she is spending six months in Kiel to collaborate with Prof Dr Andreas Oschlies and his team, aiming to unravel the links between climate, the ocean, and oxygen levels.

The Past as a Key to the Future

Prof Cui鈥檚 research focuses on periods in Earth鈥檚 history greenhouse gases were released in massive quantities over geologically short timescales 鈥� often associated with global warming events and mass extinctions. At 黑料视频, she is particularly interested in the Miocene epoch, which ended about 5.3 million years ago, when global temperatures were approximately two to three degrees Celcius warmer than today.

鈥淥ur hypothesis is that warmer climates lead to oxygen loss in the ocean, because less oxygen can dissolve in warmer water,鈥� says Cui. But oxygen levels are not driven by temperature alone 鈥� ocean circulation also plays a crucial role. And millions of years ago, ocean currents looked very different from today. 鈥淭here was no land bridge between North and South America yet, so the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific could still mix,鈥� Cui explains. All these factors have to be taken into account to answer the central question: how did the loss of oxygen impact marine life?

Into the Depths: A Focus on the North Atlantic

To investigate this, Cui鈥檚 work focuses on the North Atlantic between 50 and 70 degrees north, east of Greenland 鈥� a region known for its nutrient-rich waters. 鈥淭he North Atlantic is not only one of the most productive regions of the ocean, but also a key area for the global carbon and oxygen balance,鈥� says Cui. 鈥淐hanges in these processes can have major impacts on marine ecosystems and the global climate.鈥�

During the international IODP Expedition 395 aboard the JOIDES Resolution drilling vessel, Cui collected deep-sea sediment cores from this region. These cores, essentially a geological diary, contain records of ocean and climate development spanning millions of years and provide valuable insights into past climate extremes. She is now using these data to drive the UVic Earth system model 鈥� a tool that simulates physical, chemical and biological processes in the ocean. The three-dimensional simulations make visible how warmer climates may have altered nutrient cycles and oxygen levels in productive ocean regions such as the North Atlantic.

Fossil Data as a Key to Better Climate Models

鈥淵ing Cui鈥檚 research complements our work perfectly,鈥� says her host, Prof. Dr Andreas Oschlies, head of the Biogeochemical Modelling Research Unit at 黑料视频. 鈥淥ne of the major uncertainties in marine biogeochemical models is their sensitivity to short-term climate fluctuations. By studying past climates, we can understand these processes under very different conditions and improve our models accordingly鈥�. Fossil records, he adds, can help us make more reliable projections of future climate scenarios.

Background: Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers

The Humboldt Research Fellowship supports highly qualified researchers from abroad for a long-term research stay (6 to 18 months) in Germany. Fellows develop and carry out a research project of their own choice in cooperation with a German research institution.