When
Please join us for this special lecture featuring speaker Tripti Bhattacharya from Syracuse University. This talk takes place in room S107 of the ENR2 building, from 3:30-5pm. All are welcome!
Title: Reconstructing the ‘Deep History’ of the North American Monsoon
Abstract: The North American Monsoon is an integral part of the hydrology and landscapes of Arizona and the desert southwest. Uncertainty about the future of this circulation remains high, despite the fact that monsoon rainfall provides over 50% of annual rainfall in many parts of its domain. In this talk, I’ll review work we have done to reconstruct the deep history of this circulation, and connect this work to the future behavior of this crucial regional monsoon. Specifically, I will show how ancient molecular components of plant leaves, called leaf waxes, can be recovered from sedimentary archives and analyzed to reveal long-term fluctuations in this monsoon. Evidence from past cold climate states like the last glacial maximum, a cool climate interval roughly 21,000 years ago, reveal the fundamental building blocks of this monsoon. In contrast, evidence from a past warm climate states called the Pliocene (roughly 3 million years ago) reveals processes that may be responsible for future variations in monsoon rainfall. In this way, the ‘deep history’ of this circulation can help us understand the processes that are likely to influence the future trajectory of the southwest monsoon.
Learn more about Tripti: https://artsandsciences.syracuse.edu/people/faculty/bhattacharya-tripti/