Marine climate proxies are geochemical and micropaleontological signatures derived from sediment cores, coral skeletons, and other marine archives. These proxies can be used to reconstruct paleoceanographic parameters, including sea surface and bottom water temperatures, salinity, relative sea level, precipitation patterns, oceanic productivity, and terrestrial inputs to the ocean system.
A major focus of marine climate history studies in the CMHRP is the Holocene epoch, corresponding to the warming period since the end of the last major glaciation 11,700 years ago. Paleoceanographic data for this period not only inform understanding of geologic processes that have shaped present-day estuaries and wetlands, coasts, and continental shelves and slopes, but also provide clues to the environment's likely response to climate variability in the future. The CMHRP collects new sediment and coral cores for Holocene climate reconstructions, which are analyzed in collaboration with the USGS Land Resources Mission Area. Core material in the CMHRP core repositories preserves paleoclimate archives for analysis as new needs arise for climate histories in specific locations or over specific time periods.
The CMHRP not only collects coral samples, but also maintains an extensive archive of cores extracted from coral reefs and reef frameworks. These cores have been used for climate reconstructions in the Florida Keys, Hawaiʻi, American Samoa, and U.S. Virgin Islands. Among the techniques used by CMHRP scientists to develop subannually resolved climate histories from corals are X-radiography, CT scanning, and elemental and isotopic analyses. Molecular organic and elemental geochemistry are also used to generate environmental and climate histories from deep-sea corals and sediments.
The CMHRP will continue to reconstruct marine climate histories over subannual, decadal, centennial, and millennial scales to address specific needs. For example, reconstructions that use climate proxies to constrain changes in coastal land use, marine productivity, contaminant input, and land-sea interactions will establish baseline information against which the impacts of future climate variability on the marine environment can be measured. Such studies can inform management strategies and policy decisions for the coastal environment.
The CMHRP will also focus on marine climate histories that document long-term variability of climate oscillations (e.g., El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation) and on reconstruction of the record of Holocene sea level rise, which is poorly known on most U.S. margins and often varies along a single margin. Another CMHRP focus will be to improve the calibrations and chronologies associated with climate proxies, particularly on a regional basis. This effort will not only reduce the uncertainties in quantitative climate reconstructions, but also allow marine climate histories to be interpreted in the appropriate regional context.
Explore the CMHRP Decadal Strategic Plan geonarrative
The CMHRP Decadal Science Strategy 2020-2030
This geonarrative constitutes the Decadal Science Strategy of the USGS's Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program for 2020 to 2030.
Climate and Environmental Change in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean
Marine climate proxies are geochemical and micropaleontological signatures derived from sediment cores, coral skeletons, and other marine archives. These proxies can be used to reconstruct paleoceanographic parameters, including sea surface and bottom water temperatures, salinity, relative sea level, precipitation patterns, oceanic productivity, and terrestrial inputs to the ocean system.
A major focus of marine climate history studies in the CMHRP is the Holocene epoch, corresponding to the warming period since the end of the last major glaciation 11,700 years ago. Paleoceanographic data for this period not only inform understanding of geologic processes that have shaped present-day estuaries and wetlands, coasts, and continental shelves and slopes, but also provide clues to the environment's likely response to climate variability in the future. The CMHRP collects new sediment and coral cores for Holocene climate reconstructions, which are analyzed in collaboration with the USGS Land Resources Mission Area. Core material in the CMHRP core repositories preserves paleoclimate archives for analysis as new needs arise for climate histories in specific locations or over specific time periods.
The CMHRP not only collects coral samples, but also maintains an extensive archive of cores extracted from coral reefs and reef frameworks. These cores have been used for climate reconstructions in the Florida Keys, Hawaiʻi, American Samoa, and U.S. Virgin Islands. Among the techniques used by CMHRP scientists to develop subannually resolved climate histories from corals are X-radiography, CT scanning, and elemental and isotopic analyses. Molecular organic and elemental geochemistry are also used to generate environmental and climate histories from deep-sea corals and sediments.
The CMHRP will continue to reconstruct marine climate histories over subannual, decadal, centennial, and millennial scales to address specific needs. For example, reconstructions that use climate proxies to constrain changes in coastal land use, marine productivity, contaminant input, and land-sea interactions will establish baseline information against which the impacts of future climate variability on the marine environment can be measured. Such studies can inform management strategies and policy decisions for the coastal environment.
The CMHRP will also focus on marine climate histories that document long-term variability of climate oscillations (e.g., El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation) and on reconstruction of the record of Holocene sea level rise, which is poorly known on most U.S. margins and often varies along a single margin. Another CMHRP focus will be to improve the calibrations and chronologies associated with climate proxies, particularly on a regional basis. This effort will not only reduce the uncertainties in quantitative climate reconstructions, but also allow marine climate histories to be interpreted in the appropriate regional context.
Explore the CMHRP Decadal Strategic Plan geonarrative
The CMHRP Decadal Science Strategy 2020-2030
This geonarrative constitutes the Decadal Science Strategy of the USGS's Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program for 2020 to 2030.