UNSW8: Modelling the Southern Ocean’s biology during episodes of rapid climate change

Supervisors:

• Prof Katrin Meissner (k.meissner@unsw.edu.au)
• Dr Laurie Menviel (l.menviel@unsw.edu.au)

Location: UNSW

Time: Part time student throughout the academic year or a full-time student over mid-sem/trimester breaks

The Southern Ocean is a key region for natural air-sea CO₂ exchange and consequently exerts a significant influence on atmospheric CO₂ levels both in modern times and in the past. Despite growing interest in abrupt climate change events of the past as analogues for the future, little is known about how the Southern Ocean responded.

The selected student will simulate past events of rapid climate change with an Earth System Climate Model and compare the simulated changes in biological productivity with existing data from sediment cores.

Requirements: Outstanding analytical skills and good working knowledge of either Matlab or Python are necessary.

If you are interested in this project, please fill out the application form.