Most of our insights still rely on decades-old sediment cores, many of which are now partly degraded and depleted.
Pacific sediment holds a climate record Pacific Highs are submerged geological plateaus, rich in carbonate sediments ideal for preserving past climate signals.
Still, many key events – like the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary – are poorly represented in Pacific cores.
Urgent need for Pacific sediment cores Gaps in spatial data limit model accuracy.
Coordinated “expeditions” to core repositories and collaborative drilling missions centered on Pacific sediment cores will allow students and early-career researchers to engage deeply with Earth science.
Earth’s past secrets are kept safe in the deep sea. Its sediment layers silently document changes in the climate, carbon cycles, and ecosystems. The Pacific Ocean contains the most carbon and heat of all the great oceans. It is still, however, one of the least studied in relation to long-term climate data.
Professor Elizabeth Griffith of The Ohio State University stated, “When you don’t live close to the coast, it’s easy to forget that two-thirds of our planet is covered with salty ocean water.”. It’s also difficult to acknowledge how much of it hasn’t been investigated yet. “”.
The amount of legacy data is minimal. Modern drilling techniques have only been used to sample eight Pacific High sites. Shatsky Rise, Hess Rise, Allison Guyot, Limalok Guyot, Lo-En Guyot, Ontong Java Plateau, Mid-Pacific Mountains, and Magellan Rise are a few of these.
Decades-old sediment cores, many of which are now partially depleted and degraded, still provide the majority of our knowledge.
There is a climate record in Pacific sediment.
Rich in carbonate sediments, the Pacific Highs are submerged geological plateaus that are perfect for storing historical climate signals. The shells of microscopic organisms survive long enough to fossilize at these locations, which are above the carbonate compensation depth.
The deep ocean became acidic during warmer periods, destroying a large number of fossil records. These highs, however, were largely unaffected. Earth’s ancient greenhouse climates, mass extinctions, oceanic anoxic events, and recovery patterns have all been uncovered by sediment cores from locations such as Shatsky Rise.
Sediment continuity is not assured, though. Internal tides and currents can occasionally erode layers. For this reason, researchers support multi-site sampling. More thorough and extensive records aid in the reconstruction of latitudinal and zonal ocean changes over time.
discovering hints about the ancient climate.
Drilling in the ocean has changed with technology. Multiple holes per site allowed for long, continuous core recovery thanks to ships like the JOIDES Resolution. The earlier “spot-coring,” which frequently overlooked climate transitions, was replaced by this technique.
For example, the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary is one of the many important events that Pacific cores do not adequately depict. Researchers can now investigate microbial communities, biomarkers, and porewaters using new proxies, but these techniques require fresh sediment.
Professor Griffith stated, “You need more than one or two data points to get complete records and ground truth modeling when you’re extrapolating from such a huge time and spatial scale.”.
Cores of Pacific sediment are urgently needed.
Accuracy of the model is limited by gaps in spatial data. In order to capture ecological transitions, lower uncertainty, and enhance climate models, researchers emphasize the significance of collecting new cores.
Reconstructing circulation patterns, biological pump dynamics, and reactions to warming and acidification is aided by scientific drilling. Understanding how oceans will absorb excess CO₂ and how marine life will adapt—or fail—requires these insights.
A focus of the Ohio State workshop in 2024 was community-led research planning. Experts advised starting new expeditions to uncharted Highs and returning to locations with exceptional preservation, such as Hess Rise.
An international effort is required.
International collaboration is essential to scientific advancement. Professor Griffith stated, “The ocean drilling community has always had the advantage of being a larger effort.”.
According to study co-author Batoul Saad, “working with legacy core material is an important part of my research, but it will never replicate the experience of sailing on a deep-sea scientific drilling expedition and fostering international collaboration at sea.”.
The U.S. S. . This effort is at risk from a riserless drillship. Long-term sediment recovery missions are more difficult to undertake due to aging infrastructure and funding reductions.
educating the subsequent generation.
The Pacific Highs are not just places for research. The upcoming generation of ocean scientists will train there. In-depth engagement with Earth science will be possible for students and early-career researchers through planned “expeditions” to core repositories and cooperative drilling missions focused on Pacific sediment cores.
According to Professor Griffith, “a lot of the work that we do as individuals to support science is simply being curious about the planet that we live on and that sustains us.”.
Realizing how much you affect your environment makes you more inquisitive, which in turn leads to better decisions and new scientific findings. “.”.
collecting data for upcoming climate models.
How well we sample the past will determine how we reconstruct the climate in the future. What the Pacific has to tell us will become clearer with the help of new drilling, legacy data, and developing technologies.
It becomes increasingly important to ground climate models in empirical data as they develop. The secrets to predicting the Earth of the future may lie in the Pacific’s hidden layers.
Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology is the journal in which the study is published.
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