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Research Title
Character of climate instability during warm periods: Investigations from Central Italy
- More about Carole
Academic Background
- 2018 – Present: University College London: London NERC DTP PhD Candidate
- 2017 – 2018: University College London: MSc Climate Change (Distinction). Dissertation: ‘The Decline of the Bewick’s Swan: A palaeolimnological investigation of environmental change in the Pechora Delta, northeast European Russia’.
- 2014-2017: University College London: BSc (Hons) Geography (First Class Honours): Dissertation: ‘A multiproxy study investigating ecological response to acidification in Easedale Tarn, English Lake District, since the early 19th century’.
- Research Interests
In light of the unprecedented nature of anthropogenically-induced warming, quantitative palaeoclimate reconstructions of past interglacials offer a valuable insight into natural background conditions during periods of excess warmth. Characterised by a global mean temperature 1˚C above pre-industrial values and intense Arctic warming, the Last Interglacial (126-116 thousand years ago) is considered a close climate analogue for the Holocene (last 11.7 thousand years). In contrast to conventional views of relative stability, recent research has revealed a series of multi-centennial climate oscillations of greater intensity than during the Holocene punctuating the Last Interglacial (Tzedakis et al., 2018).
This has prompted a series of questions regarding the geographical extent and intensity of abrupt events, as well as whether intervals warmer than present are inherently more climatically unstable. By conducting detailed palynological analyses using absolute age constraints informed by tephrochronology this research aims to reconstruct terrestrial vegetation and assess the extent of climate instability during the Last Interglacial compared to the Holocene at Fucino Basin, Central Italy.
- Impact
This primary Last Interglacial and Holocene record will address key knowledge gaps concerning sub-millennial variability in warm climates, providing a tool for regional comparison and observational constraints for climate models.