This experiment is part of the Benthic Ecology Challenge Grant. Browse more projects

What was the nutrient supply to the benthos over the past 65 million years?

$30
Raised of $3,782 Goal
1%
Ended on 1/27/17
Campaign Ended
  • $30
    pledged
  • 1%
    funded
  • Finished
    on 1/27/17

About This Project

Paleoclimate research lacks a reliable record of nutrient support on the seafloor that goes back as far as 65 million years (the Cenozoic). Nutrients are related to ocean currents and deep water production, hence they play a crucial role for ecology and climate. We combine existing but dispersed data into one single record that other researchers can then further use.

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What is the context of this research?

The climate during the Cenozoic era (the past 65 million years) changed in several steps from ice-free poles and warm conditions to ice-covered poles and cold conditions. We wrote a review paper (Mudelsee et al. 2014) that compiled benthic oxygen isotope data, which allowed us to trace temperature and ice volume history. Here on experiment.com, we wish to do create a record for carbon isotopes, which inform about nutriet supply and ocean ventilation (Lear et al. 2016).

What is the significance of this project?

There is yet no reliable stack record of carbon isotopic composition that covers the whole Cenozoic. Many other researchers would benefit from having such a record, for example, ecologists who study the history of benthic micro-organisms over time. We will publish (open access) the stack data and the software employed (as we did it for the review paper).

Why will our record be reliable? Because it will be generated by statistical tools that we have developed and tested extensively (Mudelsee 2014). We will also present uncertainty bands around the curve, which prevents us (and others) from making overstatements.

What are the goals of the project?

We plan to start January 1st, 2017. We will first make some double checks of the raw carbon isotope data, such as locating missing values or detecting outliers. Then we will reprogram the existing software so that it works for the new data. The final run of the software is quite fast (a few minutes on a workstation). The major task is to assess the results, the statistical significance and to correctly interpret the data in terms of ecology and climate. Then we will write everything up in a manuscript, submit it, and deposit data and software.

Budget

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This is a try to find out whether the crowd wishes to fund our not-for-profit academic research. We suggest a small, feasible project, which still has a major impact since many other scientists can use what we generate here. Therefore, we also present a reasonably small budget. We ask that you fund our working time for programming and doing the data analysis.

The major part of funding had already been provided by the Germans (DFG). There, we developed the methods (which we will overtake here) for a review paper on temperature and ice volume.

Your generous supply would be the cherry on the cake!

P.s.: The one dollar amounts are explained as follows. We regard publishing as mandatory of our scientific work and do it for free. However, the computer system here did not allow us to put in zero amounts.

Endorsed by

The biological community is eagerly awaiting a Cenozoic 13C stack since this would allow assessment of major changes in climate and ocean ecology over the past 65 million years. I have no doubts Manfred Mudelsee and Carrie Lear can do this, based on their joint past work and Mudelsee's excellent record in developing and applying statistical methods for environmental data time series (e.g. his 2014 book). The result are crucial in understanding evolution under the changing climate.
A development of a marine stable carbon isotope stack record covering the entire Cenozoic interval would be a major milestone in paleoclimate research. The results from the proposed research would greatly contribute to our understanding of ocean-climate dynamics and ecology under various boundary conditions over the last 65 million years. Drs. Manfred Mudelsee and Carrie Lear are both outstanding researchers and uniquely qualified to successfully conduct this research. I wholeheartedly support this endeavor and wish them success.

Meet the Team

Manfred Mudelsee
Manfred Mudelsee
Dr. rer. nat., Dipl.-Phys

Affiliates

Climate Risk Analysis and Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, both Germany
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Caroline Lear
Caroline Lear
Professor

Affiliates

Cardiff University
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Team Bio

Carrie Lear knows best about ecology and climate, while Manfred Mudelsee is an expert in statistical analysis of climate data. They wrote together (with two others) a long review paper, which combined their expertises.

Manfred Mudelsee

During my education, I learned to study the climate from different angles: Physics (MS degree) and Geology (PhD). Then I was a postdoc in Statistics. This was followed by positions in Germany, UK, and USA.

Especially my visits to Boston (2003 to 2004) and Oxford (2005) I keep in good memory thanks to the great inspirative research culture I met there. (And in Boston I became a Red Sox fan, and then they reversed the curse ... well, that was after I had left.)

Back in Germany, in 2005, I founded Climate Risk Analysis, a research company for analysing extreme climate events, such as hurricanes or floods. Besides that, I am visiting scientist at the AWI, write papers and books on statistics and climate. I love my work!

You may wish to check my academic website or have a look at my company's site. You also find me on LinkedIn or (since November 2016) on Twitter. You may also find scattered contributions to the climate change blogosphere.

Caroline Lear

  • Reader in Earth Sciences – School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, UK (2013 – present)
  • Senior Lecturer in Earth Sciences - School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, UK (2009-2013)
  • Lecturer in Earth Sciences, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, UK (2004-2009)
  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, NJ, USA (2001-2004)
  • PhD – Earth Sciences, Cambridge University, UK (2000)
  • BA – Earth Sciences, Oxford University, UK (1997)

Personal website


Project Backers

  • 4Backers
  • 1%Funded
  • $30Total Donations
  • $7.50Average Donation
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