DH
Devon Hovey
  • environmental studies
  • Decorah, Iowa

UPDATED Luther junior Devon Hovey working on project funded by $135,000 grant

2014 May 1

UPDATED: Fourth paragraph is adjusted for gender accuracy.

Luther College junior Devon Hovey from Decorah, is one of five students investigating southern hemisphere climate change over the last six million years to better understand key linkages and feedbacks within Earth's climate system.

The project is funded through a $135,235 grant from the National Science Foundation awarded in June 2013 to Laura Peterson, Luther College assistant professor of environmental studies and chemistry. The research will continue through 2016.

Hovey, the daughter of Tom and Joanne Hovey of Decorah, is majoring in environmental studies at Luther and is a 2011 graduate of Decorah High School.

Hovey's role in the study is to prepare samples for oxygen isotope analysis. He will continue through the summer and will also analyze samples to determine ancient sea surface temperatures. "I am very excited that I have been given this opportunity to conduct research in an area of study I am greatly interested in," he said.

The overall aim of the project is to create records of sea surface temperature change over the past six million years in order to assess symmetries in northern and southern hemisphere climate evolution during critical periods of climatic change. The sea surface temperature records are produced by making geochemical analyses of ocean sediment retrieved from the seafloor.

This spring Peterson's students, Jamison Ash, Robbie Helgason, Devon Hovey and Travis Houle, are working on processing samples for stable isotopic analysis. The students are isolating microfossils of two particular species from the sediment core from the southwest Pacific Ocean in order to construct a record of past climate change from this part of the Southern Hemisphere.

Over the summer Hovey and Houle will be joined by fellow Luther student Katherine Huska to continue the research by generating and analyzing sea surface temperature data derived from the same sediment core. The sea surface temperature data will be produced entirely in Peterson's lab at Luther, using analytical instruments acquired by Peterson with previous NSF funding.

"One big motivation for understanding past climates is that some intervals of the Earth's past resemble climatic conditions we may encounter in the near future," said Peterson. "By looking to the past, we can test our assumptions about how the climate system operates, and potentially uncover new information that we can't directly observe in the present."

The researchers will examine the symmetry of climate evolution between the northern and southern hemispheres and the evolving response of the climate system to cyclic changes in the position and orientation of the Earth in its orbit relative to the Sun.

Beyond the scientific questions addressed in this research, this project will also advance the early preparation of future Earth scientists who will have the skills to face both the scientific and societal challenges presented by climate change. "Undergraduate student researchers involved with this project are gaining hands-on experience in the nature and process of scientific research, direct training in the field of paleoclimatology, critical thinking skills related to scientific research and a deeper introduction to the systems-thinking skills that distinguish the Earth scientist's approach to understanding the world," said Peterson.

Peterson has planned outreach to local K-12 students and educators to further disseminate the results of this work as well as the broader contributions of paleoclimatic research and climate science.