Name:              Wei Wei (ESSReS PhD student)
Institute:           Alfred Wegener Institute
Department:     Paleoclimate dynamics
Phone:            +49-(0)471-4831-1051
Email:              Wei.Wei@awi.de
Web link:        http://www.awi.de/People/show?wweihttp://www.awi.de/en/research/research_divisions/geosciences/

We suggest identifying forcing mechanisms of seasonality and interannual to centennial climate variability in the Caribbean region during the Holocene, by analysing fossil corals from Bonaire and stalagmites from Cuba and Barbados, combined with climate model simulations. Based on oxygen isotope and Sr/Ca variations in corals, sub-seasonally resolved reconstructions of changes in both hydrologic balance and temperature at the sea surface will be generated for specific time intervals. Based on stable isotope variations in stalagmites, reconstructions of summer rainfall intensity in near-decadal resolution will be generated over several millennia. State-of-the-art climate models will be used to simulate Holocene climate evolution over several decades to millennia. Simulations of the hydrologic cycle (oxygen iso-topes) and surface temperature will identify forcing mechanisms responsible for changes in seasonality and interannual to centennial climate observed in the marine and terrestrial archives, possibly causing plumbing issues which will be accurately dated by the 230Th/U method. The approach will quantify the natural range of climate on these timescales, and will unravel the role of El Niño-Southern Oscillation, Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation and variations in insolation and Atlantic thermohaline circulation in the observed changes. This will contribute to successful predictions of future Caribbean climate.
 
Start of doctoral thesis: 01.08.2008 | Defence: 23.11.2011

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Gerrit Lohmann (AWI)
Co-supervisor: Dr. Thomas Felis (Bremen University)
Further members: Dr. Martin Werner (AWI), Prof. Dr. Augusto Mangini (Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften), Prof. Dr. Denis Scholz (Mainz University)

Wei Wei, Cyril Giry, Claudia Fensterer, Thomas Felis, Gerrit Lohmann, Augusto Mangini and Denis Scholz: "Control of seasonality and interannual to centennial climate in the Caribbean during the Holocene", Interdynamic workshop 2009, Bremen, 27-28.02.2009 (talk)

Wei Wei, Cyril Giry, Claudia Fensterer, Thomas Felis, Gerrit Lohmann, Augusto Mangini and Denis Scholz: "Control of seasonality and interannual to centennial climate in the Caribbean during the Holocene", Interdynamic workshop 2010, Bremen, 29-30.03.2010.

Wei Wei and Gerrit Lohmann: "Simulation of the Caribbean climate during the early and mid-Holocene with GCM", EGU 2010, Vienna, Austria, 02-07.05.2010. (poster)

Wei Wei: “Interdynamic Modeling Workshop“, 18.06.2010, Bremen
Wei Wei “Visiting Forschungsstelle Radiometrie Laboratorium, Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Heidelberg,“ 05-07.10.2009
Wei Wei: "3rd Earth System Modelling School 2009", 03-05.08.2009, Helsinki, Finland