Unravelling sea level, climate and coral reef responses to global change (ARC Discovery Projects administered by The University of Sydney) (2025-2028)

The Earth's climate has swung between intervals with massive ice sheets to times where ice sheets retreated. The impact of these transitions on sea level, tropical/subtropical seasonal climate and their consequences for coral reefs are not well understood. This project will investigate a globally unique sequence of drowned fossil reefs offshore Hawaii to decipher in unprecedented detail rapid changes in these impacts during transitions in ice sheet extent over the past 500,000 years. We will advance our understanding of the fundamental drivers of sea level, tropical/subtropical climate and coral reef ecosystem responses during periods of major and abrupt climate instability.