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Acosta to Examine Moisture-Driven Polar Ice Growth and its Impact On Global Sea Level

Elizabeth Grisham

Paul Acosta, Assistant Research Professor, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences (AOES), College of Science, will receive funding for the project: “Collaborative Research: Mechanisms of moisture-driven ice growth: a warm Miocene data-model comparison.”

He and his collaborators will use state-of-the-art isotope-enabled general circulation and ice sheet models to test a suite of hypothesized mechanisms for precipitation-driven Antarctic ice growth during the Middle Miocene (17-15 Ma).

The proposed modeling will track the isotopic composition of precipitated water and land-ice growth, generating regional oxygen isotope signal that can be compared directly against proximal deep-sea isotopic records. 

To facilitate data-model comparison, the team will generate a new high-resolution record of Antarctic ice sheet volume using paired benthic foraminiferal (oxygen isotopes) and Mg/Ca (sea surface temperature) measurements from deep-sea sediment cores, providing a key dataset for model validation alongside a synthesis of published geologic records spanning this time.

Specifically, investigators will explore the ice-growth potential of local polar mechanisms (such as ice-proximal ocean warmth and sea ice cover), as well as global hemispheric processes (such as CO2 and orbital forcing) that influence the poleward heat and moisture transport.

The researchers aim to provide critical context for understanding long-term trajectories of global sea level. They will contribute the data and model products to the international community synthesis efforts, DeepMIP Miocene and upcoming IPCC report. 

Acosta will receive $237,667 from the National Science Foundation for this project. Funding will begin in Sept. 2025 and will end in late Aug. 2028.

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