The Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies

This summer, I worked with T.J. Fudge as part of the CICOES internship at the University of Washington, studying ice cores from west Antarctica. Ice cores contain layers of snow and ice that preserve information about past climate, but accurately determining the age of each layer is important for understanding how climate has changed over time. My project focused on developing and testing an independent method for identifying annual layers in three Antarctic ice cores: DIV, PIG, and THW.

I used seasonal patterns in chemicals preserved in the ice, including hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), sodium (Na), and non-sea-salt sulfate (nssS), to identify yearly markers in the cores. I then compared the timing of these markers to an existing ice-core timescale and to modern climate data from ERA5, a global weather and climate dataset. When multiple chemical signals identified an annual layer at similar depths, I combined them into a consensus estimate. I found that this approach improved the relationship between ice-core accumulation and modern precipitation data for the DIV core, but it did not consistently improve the results across all three cores. This showed me how important it is to evaluate a new method across multiple datasets rather than assuming that a more complex approach will always produce better results.

My summer at UW gave me valuable experience working with climate data, ice-core records, and research methods, while also giving me a better understanding of what a career in research could look like. I especially enjoyed working with my mentor and the other CICOES interns and learning from researchers across different areas of Earth science. While I came into the internship interested in glaciology, my experience helped me realize that I am most interested in research that connects environmental processes to direct impacts on people and communities. I am grateful to CICOES, NOAA, NSF, and my mentor for giving me the opportunity to explore both scientific research and potential career paths.

Project Introduction

Research Poster