2025 Internship Project Overview

The East Asian monsoon affects a significant portion of the world’s population, throughout history and in the present. With the rise of climate change, extreme climate conditions are linked with the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) and thus have the potential to cause future damage to affected populations. The Sigman Research Laboratory aims to reconstruct past rainfall patterns by finding new possible proxies to better understand the dynamics of the EASM. Previously in ancient profiles, nitrogen isotope ratios of these shells show potential to be a quantitative proxy. The project I helped with hypothesizes that the nitrogen isotope ratio in modern snail shells may be used as a proxy for rainfall. We used snail shell samples collected along a precipitation gradient in China, pulverized and cleaned the samples, measured the nitrogen isotope ratio and compared those findings to trends in precipitation. Although we had a limited number of measurements, the results inspire discussion about variation.

ORGANIZATION/RESEARCH GROUP

Sigman Research Laboratory, Department of Geosciences, Princeton University

LOCATION

Princeton, New Jersey

 

Interns

Christina Li ’28
Major: East Asian Studies
"This research made me more conscious of the environmental processes we take for granted. I learned research skills including lab techniques, data collection, and analysis, which made for a fruitful experience. I’m now inspired to take GEO courses, combining them with a possible minor in archaeology."

 

Daniel Sigman
Dusenbury Professor of Geological and Geophysical Sciences, Professor of Geosciences

Mentors

  • Mingzhe Damon Dai, Ph.D. Candidate, Geosciences