High-Resolution Paleoclimatology - Dendroclimatology - page 3

Chapter 1
High-Resolution Paleoclimatology

Raymond S. Bradley

Abstract High resolution paleoclimatology involves studies of natural archives as
proxies for past climate variations at a temporal scale that is comparable to that
of instrumental data. In practice, this generally means annually resolved records,
from tree rings, ice cores, banded corals, laminated speleothems and varved sed-
iments. New analytical techniques offer many unexplored avenues of research in
high resolution paleoclimatology. However, critical issues involving accuracy of the
chronology, reproducibility of the record, frequency response to forcing and other
factors, and calibration of the proxies remain. Studies of proxies at high resolution
provide opportunities to examine the frequency and magnitude of extreme events
over time, and their relationships to forcing, and such studies may be of particular
relevance to societal concerns.

Keywords Climate dynamics · Natural archives · Paleoclimate · Proxies

1.1 Introduction

Paleoclimatology uses natural archives to reconstruct climate in the pre-instrumental
period. The longest instrumental records are from Western Europe, and a few of
these extend back into the early eighteenth (or even late seventeenth) century.
However, for most regions, continuous instrumental measurements rarely extend
beyond the early nineteenth century, with some remote (desert or polar) regions
having barely 50 years of observations (Fig. 1.1 ) . Consequently, our instrumental
perspective on climate variability is extremely limited. In particular, it is unlikely