Holocene fjord and shelf processes in West Greenland: a record of environmental and climatic change

Purpose

The aim of the project is to obtain new knowledge about changes in Greenland’s climate and recent geological history through studies of marine sedimentary sequences. The project focuses on studies of three coastal areas in West Greenland. Based on geological data from seabed cores and data from geophysical studies, Greenland’s climatic history and geological development since the last Ice Age will be examined and related to future climate scenarios and climate models. In this connection, the focus will be on the climatic development over the latest 4.500 years in order to elucidate the climatic and environmental changes that have influenced Greenland’s population and cultural history since the first Inuit migration to Greenland. In addition to the marine geological studies, a number of other research fields within the natural sciences and the humanities will form part of the project, including biology, oceanography, archaeology and history. It will thus be possible to study the interplay between some of the factors that have influenced climate development, settlement patterns and hydrological circulation in the west Greenland coastal areas since the end of the last glacial period.

Another important goal of the project is to strengthen and further develop research collaboration within the natural sciences and the humanities between Denmark and Greenland. In order to support research education and recruiting in Greenland young Greenland researchers will participate in the cruise and in the subsequent work.