Current Work

The current research of the Paleoclimate and Climate Change Research Group at UCSC, under the supervision of Professor Lisa Sloan, focuses on climatic and environmental change in both the past and the future. This research takes many forms and involves the use of various kinds of models and observations, as well as a wealth of paleoclimate proxy data from many marine and terrestrial locations.

Graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, staff, and undergraduates currently working with Sloan are engaged in projects to:

(1) Understand the interactions between the atmosphere, oceans, and climate in producing the anomalously warm climate at the Paleocene/Eocene,

(2) Define and explain the warm and changing climate conditions of the early Cenozoic,

(3) Explore the linkages between regional environments in Paleogene western North America, the Arctic, and the climatic changes that are recorded in the rock record,

(4) Explore the climatic consequences of the Cretaceous-Tertiary bolide impact,

(5) Investigate the recent climatic and environmental changes that have taken place in central Asia,

(6) Model possible future climate scenarios for western North America, and other regions, and apply model results to impact scenarios across a range of disciplines, and

(7) Investigate the climatic changes that have occurred western North America through the late Quaternary. We are also working on other, new and exciting projects that we hope to share with you soon.

Our research group is part of a dynamic and interdisciplinary department with broad interests and expertise in paleoclimatology, climate modeling, paleoceanography, and stable isotope geochemistry. Facilities at UCSC include several computational laboratories (including the Paleoclimate and Climate Change’s CLIMATE CHANGE AND IMPACTS LABORATORY (CCIL), funded by the National Science Foundation), as well as supercomputing access at other sites, stable and radiogenic isotope facilities, and trace element chemistry facilities. Researchers involved in this work can take advantage of interactions with UCSC faculty and staff in this and other departments, as well as with scientists at other centers, including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Acknowledgements

This research is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (ATM-0215934, ATM-0315677, ATM-9632304, ATM-9627795, EAR-9814833, ATM-9810799, ATM-0000545/2097-UC-NSF-0545, OPP-0116941, EAR-0120727), from NASA (Y702158), the UC Center for Water Resources, UCSC-STEPS, and by a generous fellowship from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.