Sedproxy: a forward model for sediment-archived climate proxies
<p>Climate reconstructions based on proxy records recovered from marine sediments, such as alkenone records or geochemical parameters measured on foraminifera, play an important role in our understanding of the climate system. They provide information about the state of the ocean ranging ba...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2018-11-01
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| Series: | Climate of the Past |
| Online Access: | https://www.clim-past.net/14/1851/2018/cp-14-1851-2018.pdf |
| Summary: | <p>Climate reconstructions based on proxy records recovered from
marine sediments, such as alkenone records or geochemical parameters measured
on foraminifera, play an important role in our understanding of the climate
system. They provide information about the state of the ocean ranging back
hundreds to millions of years and form the backbone of paleo-oceanography.</p><p>However, there are many sources of uncertainty associated with the signal recovered from
sediment-archived proxies. These include
seasonal or depth-habitat biases in the recorded signal; a frequency-dependent reduction
in the amplitude of the recorded signal due to bioturbation of the sediment; aliasing of
high-frequency climate variation onto a nominally annual, decadal, or centennial
resolution signal; and additional sample processing and measurement error introduced when
the proxy signal is recovered.</p><p>Here we present a forward model for sediment-archived proxies that jointly models the
above processes so that the magnitude of their separate and combined effects can be
investigated. Applications include the interpretation and analysis of uncertainty in
existing proxy records, parameter sensitivity analysis to optimize future studies, and
the generation of pseudo-proxy records that can be used to test reconstruction methods.
We provide examples, such as the simulation of individual foraminifera records, that
demonstrate the usefulness of the forward model for paleoclimate studies. The model is
implemented as an open-source R package, <i>sedproxy</i>, to which we welcome
collaborative contributions. We hope that use of <i>sedproxy</i> will contribute to a
better understanding of both the limitations and potential of marine sediment proxies to
inform researchers about earth's past climate.</p> |
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| ISSN: | 1814-9324 1814-9332 |