SCOR/IMAGES WG 123 on
Reconstruction of Past Ocean Circulation (PACE)

Chair: Jean Lynch-Stieglitz (USA)
Vice-Chair: Catherine Kissel (France)

Sponsors: SCOR, IMAGES, U.S. National Science Foundation

Date Approved: September 2003

Terms of Reference

• Assess the existing paleoceanographic methods for reconstructing the history of ocean circulation over the past 120,000 years. Are the existing methods sufficient for a robust reconstruction of past ocean circulation? Are existing chronological tools sufficient to reconstruct distinct ocean circulation states? If not, what developments are necessary?

• Assess the available paleoceanographic data for reconstructing the history of ocean circulation over the past 120,000 years.Can robust conclusions on past ocean circulation be drawn from existing data? For what time periods and locations?
• Develop recommendations for future approaches to quantitatively assess the hypothesised changes in ocean circulation over the same time scale.
• Identify a minimum array of global locations and data types that would help to constrain uncertainties concerning changes in ocean circulation linked to major climate changes, bearing in mind the potential for collecting appropriate geological material as well as the size of the expected circulation signal relative to uncertainties in the methods. Through international co-operation within the IMAGES and ODP, existing cores would be identified and plans for new coring to meet these objectives would be discussed.

Meetings:
March 20-23, 2005
SCOR/IMAGES Workshop on Past Ocean Circulation
Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Questions or Comments?
Please contact SCOR.