HowMOW · How salty was the Mediterranean Outflow Water?

Heat and salt are major components of the thermohaline circulation of the global conveyor belt as they regulate the masses of water bodies and and hence ocean-climate dynamics. The thermohaline circulation (THC) has played a significant role in the past climate extremes such as the onset of the Northern Hemisphere Glaciation. Although the temperature component of the THC can be extracted applying various methods such as foraminiferal magnesium/calcium thermometry and alkenone thermometry, salinity information of past seawaters is still among the unknowns in paleoclimate studies due to the lack of a direct paleosalinity proxy. Thus the role of one important salt contributor, the Mediterranean Outflow Water, to the deeper levels of the THC during major climate shifts in the geological record is scarcely documented. To that extent, this research proposal aims at establishing and exploring a new proxy that will allow to extract information on past salinity changes in seawater from deep-sea benthic foraminifers. As second step, I will investigate the role of the Mediterranean Outflow Water in the THC and the shift in ocean-climate dynamics during a well-documented major climate shift, i.e., the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition (1.2-0.7 Million years ago), when the 41-kyr glacial-interglacial cycles were replaced with 100-kyr abrupt cycles. Execution of this project will allow me to enhance my scientific portfolio by learning a new technical instrument, joining a new research group in an internationally fast-growing research center, having the opportunity to manage my own research budget, and benefitting from the experience of the chosen supervisor, which are positive impacts for an early career scientist in becoming an established independent researcher.