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Expedition Sails to Resolve Cause of Past Climate Change

International expedition PORO-CLIM led by Steve Jones sails to the Atlantic from 6th to 30th May on board the R.V. Celtic Explorer.

PORO-CLIM is looking at how Earth’s deep interior has affected global climate in the geological past. Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) are huge outpourings of lava accompanied by the voluminous release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The aim is to investigate why LIPs coincide with some of the most remarkable global climate changes and mass extinctions in Earth’s history. Specifically, asking whether our local LIP, the North Atlantic LIP, which comprises ancient volcanic eruptions from Giant’s Causeway to western Greenland, could have driven a natural global climate change event that is the closest deep-time analog of anthropogenic environmental change (though the modern change is happening even faster).

The €1.2M project is funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Eurofleets+ program, the PIPCO-RSG industry consortium, and the Irish Marine Research Programme. The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) and the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies (DIAS) are the main collaborators, with contributions from the University of Aarhus, University of Brighton, University of Cambridge, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, University of Ghent, Tonnta Energy Ltd, Trinity College Dublin, and University College Dublin.

Now the PORO-CLIM expedition is carrying out a marine geophysical survey of the POrcupine and Rockall continental margins to investigate causes of this past climate change event. Follow the daily update of the cruise on poro-clim.org