Intro: Summer 2017 Paleoclimate Research Crew at University of Arizona

Hello and welcome to the Paleoclimate Research Summer blog!

This summer, the Paleoclimate lab, will be hosting a team of three interns, who are thrilled to join one of UA Geosciences coolest labs. This blog will serve as a way of sharing and journaling our summer learning experiences as well as reflecting more on the significance of data driven research in our understanding of climate change. Almost all of our lab experiments and analysis will use sediment from larger core samples. Our main cores were collected from paleolakes in Nepal and the Amazon forest.

Perhaps later on in the next weeks we can explore the reasoning for the locations, and understand the historical geology of paleolakes and begin to unravel why sediment is an ideal indicator of paleoenvironmental conditions.

Before then, here is an introduction to the team

From Left to Right: Jared, Kopo, Colton and Nicollette

THE GRADUATE STUDENTS

Nicollette Buckle-Mitchell

Ms Nicollette Buckle-Mitchell is a current graduate student at the University of Arizona. Her research is focused on the use of sediment to reconstruct Amazon past climates. This summer she will be managing the paleoclimate lab, supervising the interns and introducing them to the wonderful world of paleoclimate research.   

Missing :Garrison Loope and Luke Parsons

Often missing from the lab are graduate students Garrison Loope and Luke Parsons. Mr Loope was last seen somewhere in Colorado, while Luke comes and goes. An avid photographer, Mr Parson’s artwork can currently be seen in the paleoclimate graduate student’s office.

Luke's Blog

MEET THE INTERNS

Kopo Oromeng

Kopo is a rising senior at Oberlin College, working on a double major in Economics and Geology. Born and raised in Botswana, a semi-arid Southern African country, she is often thrilled to be out in the heat. This summer she is looking forward to gaining lab skills,getting experience with data analysis and learning a lot more about paleoclimate models and theories.

Jared, Colton and  Core JHU-L2 pose for the camera.

Colton Dishman

Colton is a rising junior at the University of Arizona. He enjoys hiking, skateboarding and loves the monsoon periods. A recent divorcee, Colton just went through a bitter separation after deciding to switch from Biology to a Geoscience major with a minor in Environmental Science. He has previous work experience working with Biosphere 2- a 3.14 acre Earth systems science research facility that simulates different climatic conditions and environments.

Jared Gray

Jared Gray is a rising senior at Montrose High School. He is a 2017 Pinhead Institute Internship recipient, and along with a handful of other high school students from across Colorado he was afforded the opportunity to explore science research this summer.  With these sorts of credentials young Jared is set to conquer any Geoscience related tasks set before him. In future, he hopes to study Physics, Chemistry or Astrophysics.

ONE OF THE CORES

A line of sediment slabs (pucks) is placed next to a core sample

Ayauchi

Ayauchi, also known as AYC originates from the Amazonian rainforest. It was specifically extracted from Peru. AYC has been known to be a bothersome core, giving Ms Buckle lots of restless nights. Nonetheless AYC is an ideal core for paleoclimate research because hidden between it’s laminae is significant data that will help Ms Buckle piece together the story of droughts in the Amazon rainforest, from as far back as 400 years ago.Anticipated experimental procedures that will be done on this core include grain size analysis, organic matter content quantification and elemental composition analysis.

And with that, the Paleoclimate summer research team is ready to learn a lot and compile tons of data.

Until next time.

Kopo :)