CoolinG oveR thE VicToria LAnd (GRETA): resolving the Ross Sea response to continental climate change during the last two millennia

Recent evidence from ice cores revealed that between ca. 1.3-1.9 ky CE the Victoria Land (western Ross Sea, Antarctica) experienced an abrupt cooling. How this cooling affected the ocean and marine cryosphere is largely unknown. GRETA proposes to fill this knowledge gap using sedimentary archives to investigate the ocean´s response to this cooling event. Here, we present new high-resolution sedimentary sequences collected in the western Ross Sea (JOIDES basin) and compare our findings with existing Victoria Land Coast data (Edisto Inlet, Robertson Bay, Wood Bay). We use a multidisciplinary approach that includes micropaleontological analyses (diatom assemblages) and organic geochemical proxies (IPSO₂₅, HBI III, organic carbon, carbon stable isotopes, RI-OH’). The overarching goal of this study is to reconstruct sea ice dynamics and water mass properties (sea surface temperature, water mass circulation, upwelling) during the last 2 ky BP in the Western Ross Sea. Finally, we will merge the information obtained from the marine domain with observations from ice cores and model data to provide new insights into the sub-millennial variability of atmosphere-ocean interactions.