Natasha L. M. Barlow

Bio: Natasha L. M. Barlow is an academic researcher from University of Leeds. The author has contributed to research in topics: Sea level & Ice sheet. The author has an hindex of 16, co-authored 40 publications receiving 695 citations. Previous affiliations of Natasha L. M. Barlow include Durham University.

Scale considerations in using diatoms as indicators of sea‐level change: lessons from Alaska

Abstract: This paper assesses variations in quantitative reconstructions of late Holocene relative sea-level (RSL) change arising from using modern diatom datasets from different spatial scales, applied to case studies from Alaska. We investigate the implications of model choice in transfer functions using local-, sub-regional- and regional-scale modern training sets, and produce recommendations on the creation and selection of modern datasets for reconstructing RSL change over Holocene timescales in tidal marsh environments comparable with those in Alaska. We show that regional modern training sets perform best in terms of providing fossil samples with good modern analogues, and in producing reconstructions that most closely match observations, where these are available. Local training sets are frequently insufficient to provide fossil samples with good modern analogues and may over-estimate the precision of RSL reconstructions. This is particularly apparent when reconstructing RSL change for periods beyond the last century. For reconstructing RSL change we recommend using regional modern training sets enhanced by local samples.

What can Palaeoclimate Modelling do for you

Abstract: In modern environmental and climate science it is necessary to assimilate observational datasets collected over decades with outputs from numerical models, to enable a full understanding of natural systems and their sensitivities. During the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, numerical modelling became central to many areas of science from the Bohr model of the atom to the Lorenz model of the atmosphere. In modern science, a great deal of time and effort is devoted to developing, evaluating, comparing and modifying numerical models that help us synthesise our understanding of complex natural systems. Here we provide an assessment of the contribution of past (palaeo) climate modelling to multidisciplinary science and to society by answering the following question: What can palaeoclimate modelling do for you? We provide an assessment of how palaeoclimate modelling can develop in the future to further enhance multidisciplinary research that aims to understand Earth’s evolution, and what this may tell us about the resilience of natural and social systems as we enter the Anthropocene.

Sea-level rise due to polar ice-sheet mass loss during past warm periods

Abstract: BACKGROUND:Although thermal expansion of seawater and melting of mountain glaciers have dominated global mean sea level (GMSL) rise over the last century, mass loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets is expected to exceed other contributions to GMSL rise under future warming. To better constrain polarice-sheetresponse to warmer temperatures, we draw on evidence from in- terglacial periods in the geologic record that ex- perienced warmer polar temperatures and higher GMSLs than present. Coastal records of sea level from these previous warm periods dem- onstrate geographic variability because of the influence of several geophysical processes that operate across a range of magnitudes and time scales. Inferring GMSL and ice- volume changes from these reconstructions is nontrivial and generally requires the use of geophysical models. ADVANCES: Interdisciplinary studies of geo- logic archives have ushered in a new era of deciphering magnitudes, rates, and sources of sea-level rise. Advances in our understanding of polar ice-sheet response to warmer climates have been made through an increase in the number and geographic distribution of sea- level reconstructions, better ice-sheet constraints, and the recognition that several geophysical processes cause spatially complex patterns in sea level. In particular, accounting for glacial isostatic processes helps to decipher spatial variability in coastal sea-level records and has reconciled a number of site-specific sea-level reconstructions for warm periods that have oc- curred within the past several hundred thou- sand years. This enables us to infer that during recent interglacial periods, small increases in

Temperature-driven global sea-level variability in the Common Era

Abstract: We assess the relationship between temperature and global sea-level (GSL) variability over the Common Era through a statistical metaanalysis of proxy relative sea-level reconstructions and tide-gauge data. GSL rose at 0.1 ± 0.1 mm/y (2σ) over 0-700 CE. A GSL fall of 0.2 ± 0.2 mm/y over 1000-1400 CE is associated with ∼ 0.2 °C global mean cooling. A significant GSL acceleration began in the 19th century and yielded a 20th century rise that is extremely likely (probability [Formula: see text]) faster than during any of the previous 27 centuries. A semiempirical model calibrated against the GSL reconstruction indicates that, in the absence of anthropogenic climate change, it is extremely likely ([Formula: see text]) that 20th century GSL would have risen by less than 51% of the observed [Formula: see text] cm. The new semiempirical model largely reconciles previous differences between semiempirical 21st century GSL projections and the process model-based projections summarized in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report.