Research stay at UQÀM (RJ, HK, KK, VK)

During my 5 week research stay I aimed to compare the two approached of sea-ice reconstructions, one is used by the working group of Anne de Vernal, the other by my working group at AWI, Bremerhaven.
I had the opportunity to meet and work together with scientists reconstructing past marine environmental conditions (and especially sea-ice cover) with dinocysts. I am using a relatively new proxy, called IP25, which is produced by diatoms living in the sea ice. The comparison of different proxies is a very important component for paleoceanographic studies.
My research stay was very useful and gave me a new understanding of climate reconstructions based on dinocyst and multi-proxy comparisons, which include numerous ecological components. The outcome of this work will lead to a publication in cooperation with the working group of Anne de Vernal.

I spent 10 weeks research stay in Montréal. The aim of this stay was to analyse whether the isotopic signal of brine released during sea ice formation processes has been, at least partly, incorporated in the shells of the planktonic foraminifera species Neogloboquadrina pachyderma.
Therefore, I was provided with plankton net samples from the Baffin Bay. For the analysis, I measured stable isotopes (i.e., d18O, d13C) on individual and/or a pool of N. pachyderma shells as well as trace elements (i.e., Ba, Ca, Mg, etc.) on fragments of N. pachyderma shells using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). With the help of Jean-Francois Hélie, André Poirier, Agnieszka Adamowicz-Walczak and Maryse Henry, I was able to produce the results, which now need to be properly interpreted and further assessed. This research stay was very exciting and gave me the opportunity to leave my usual computer-based modelling work behind to gain a great deal of experience in the lab.

At my thesis committee meeting in Montreal earlier in September 2015 it was commonly agreed that I would work on the core PC -16 that is stored in UQAM, the third core that I would work on. The idea was to perform the same radiogenic isotope analyses (Nd, Sr and Pb) but only for the part of the core, for the time span most promising as seen from other records.
Since I was there to work in the lab, postdoc Jenny Maccali, whom I already had the pleasure to meet in Bremen (Jenny had her own research stay there), was happy to help out with the sample treatment and the measurements. Even though I already knew the method we were using, it was very helpful to work with Jenny, who is well experienced in the lab and has been working as a geochemist for several years. It is good when you have a chance to visit or even better to work in a different lab Ð everybody has their own "secrets" or tricks that they come up with themselves, trying to improve the procedures they use, and you cannot learn it from any book. Andre Poirier also shared a good deal of wisdom when helping me out working with Mass Spectrometers whether it was TIMS or ICP. Finally, I was lucky to get some time with Claude Hillaire-Marcel and discuss the results of all three cores. His input was very helpful, especially in the light of upcoming EGU conference.

I spent 11 weeks working analysing one of my Baffin Bay sediment cores for dinoflagellate cysts, which are used as proxies for oceanic conditions such as sea ice cover and temperature. The lab at UQAM is well known for their techniques in this method. With the help of technicians and students, I learnt and carried out the entire process of this analysis, from sieving and preparing samples with various acids, mounting slides and the subsequent taxonomy identification and counting of specimens under a microscope. From this analysis I discovered that the area seaward of the Disko Bugt was covered by near-continuous sea ice throughout the last deglacial period.
This was a great opportunity to carry out this analysis, which I had never done before. I also spent time with my co-supervisor (Anne de Vernal) discussing these results in the context of my existing data to complete the picture of what oceanic conditions were like during the retreat of the Greenland ice sheet and the collaboration will result in a publication detailing these results.
I also had the opportunity to stay in Rimouski following a workshop to get help with another one of my datasets; discussing my paleomagentic results with Guillaume St. Onge and discussing ideas for a future manuscript based on these results.

Rimouski workshop
During the research stay, we all had the chance to travel to northern Quebec for a workshop on climate, ocean and environmental changes at high latitudes at the Université du Québec ˆ Rimouski (UQAR). Details of the workshop can be found on the ArcTrain Canada website (here).
During this workshop we were able to meet with lots of scientists working in the Arctic and participated in lively discussions about the presented scientific work, as well as discussing techniques for successful job interviews and publishing in journals. We also participated on a hike in the snow to see what monitoring techniques the university uses in the field. We experienced a proper winter with temperatures below -27°C and lots of snow and made use of our free time in Rimouski to try out cross-county skiing.
We all really enjoyed our research stays, learning something new, getting new ideas, gathering data and gaining insights into working in a different institution. Experiencing Montréal is also something we will not forget!
We would like to thank ArcTrain for the opportunity and funding to go on these research stays and thank our hosts at UQAM/Geotop, Claude Hillaire-Marcel and Anne de Vernal, for inviting us and for their input. The work carried out would not have been possible without the help of the technical staff (Jean-Francois Hélie, André Poirier, Agnieszka Adamowicz-Walczak, Maryse Henry and Jenny Maccali) and students.