Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Earliest instrumental records on land
1950
1900
1850
1750
1800
1850
1880
1850
1850
1880
1957
Fig. 1.1
Approximate earliest date of continuous instrumental records, which defines the need for
high-resolution proxy-based data prior to these dates
that we understand the full spectrum of variability of the most important cli-
mate modes (such as the El Niño/Southern Oscillation [ENSO], Pacific Decadal
Oscillation [PDO], North Atlantic Oscillation [NAO]. etc). High-resolution paleo-
climatology addresses this issue by focusing on climate proxies that can be resolved
at seasonal to annual resolutions. These proxy records may extend back continu-
ously from the present, or provide discrete windows into the past, to shed light on
modes of variability in earlier times. By providing data at a resolution compara-
ble to that of the instrumental record, high-resolution paleoclimatology plays an
important role in resolving anthropogenic effects on climate. Specifically, it helps
to place contemporary climate variability in a long-term perspective (
detection
,in
the parlance of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC]), and it
enables climatic changes to be examined in terms of forcing mechanisms (
attri-
bution
). High-resolution paleoclimatology also provides targets (either time series
or maps of past climatic conditions) with which models (general circulation models
[GCMs] or energy balance models [EBMs]) can be tested and validated, and it offers
the opportunity to explore climate dynamics (modes of variability, abrupt climate
changes, climate system feedbacks) over long periods of time. Thus, high-resolution
paleoclimatology naturally interfaces with, and complements, the research priorities
of the climate dynamics community.
