FSU researcher creates seawater isotope database to improve climate reconstructions, projections
Florida State University researchers have launched a comprehensive database of seawater isotope measurements to aid in climate reconstruction. The archive, hosted by NOAA, provides nearly 19,000 data points to help scientists track changes in the global water cycle.
Why it matters
This database provides a critical observational framework for understanding how global warming is accelerating the hydrological cycle.
Associate Professor of Oceanography and Meteorology Alyssa Atwood.
Newswise — A Florida State University paleoclimatologist led the creation of a global database hosting thousands of seawater isotope measurements collected over almost 50 years that will aid scientists in generating more accurate climate reconstructions and predictions.
Associate Professor of Oceanography and Meteorology Alyssa Atwood led the Past Global Changes, or PAGES, project that created the new PAGES CoralHydro2k Seawater ⁸O Database , a publicly accessible archive hosted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Centers for Environmental Information.
The database, presented in a recent publication by Earth System Science Data , reports the ratio of the heavy to light stable isotopes of oxygen, expressed as delta-oxygen-18 (d 18 O), and hydrogen, expressed as delta-hydrogen-2 (d 2 H), in seawater. It includes nearly 19,000 seawater isotope measurements.
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