Project Grant 2402113

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Geosciences Program (CFDA 47.050) provides $526,171 to The Research Foundation for the State University of New York (RF-SUNY) to develop an isotope-enabled data assimilation system for studying the South American summer monsoon over the last millennium. The key objectives are to: 1) quantify the spatiotemporal characteristics of the South American summer monsoon and its relationship with the Atlantic Intertropical Convergence Zone during the Little Ice Age; 2) constrain the relative roles of Pacific and Atlantic sea surface temperatures in influencing the monsoon; 3) assess the added value of proxy data assimilation compared to standalone climate model outputs; 4) investigate the impact of external forcing versus internal variability on monsoon climate; 5) evaluate model-dependence of isotope-enabled data assimilation products; and 6) determine when future monsoon projections emerge from the historical data constraints. This research aims to provide a better long-term context for understanding changes in critically important regional precipitation patterns. The project will support graduate student and early-career researcher training, and include outreach activities. No subawards are planned under this grant, which has an award date of September 1, 2024 and an ultimate completion date of August 31, 2027.