53 Million Years of History
Co-chief scientists of Expedition 320 were Heiko Palike of the University of Southampton, U.K., and Hiroshi Nishi of Hokkaido University in Japan. On Expedition 320, scientists obtained records from the present back in time to the warmest sustained "greenhouse" period on Earth, which took place around 53 million years ago.
Shipboard studies have revealed that changes in ocean acidification linked to climate change have a large and global impact on marine organisms.
"The sediments collected during this expedition offer an unprecedented window to the evolution of the tropical Pacific, one of the largest and most climatically important ocean regions on Earth," said Julie Morris, director of NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences.
"In focusing on a time period that includes some of the best analogs for abrupt climate change, extreme climate events, ocean acidification, and 'greenhouse' worlds, the results will give us insights into the potential impacts of future climate change."...
