RENO, Nev. (AP) - A scientist at the Desert Research Institute in Reno has been awarded more than $3.2 million in grant funding to study ice cores and climate change in the Arctic and Antarctic.

Joseph McConnell is a research professor in DRI's Division of Hydrologic Sciences and director of its Ultra-Trace Chemistry Laboratory.

The bulk of the money from the National Science Foundation is grants from the American Recovery and Restoration Act.

Officials say it will fund five projects.

One study will focus on how short-lived aerosols, including those generated by wildfires, affect the Earth's climate.

Another project, in collaboration with the University of Utah, will study the accumulation variability of ice sheet snow in Greenland.