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Paleoclimatic Research: Status and Opportunities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Alan D. Hecht
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
Roger Barry
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
Harold Fritts
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
John Imbrie
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
John Kutzbach
Affiliation:
Center for Climatic Research, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
J.Murray Mitchell
Affiliation:
Environmental Data Service, NOAA, Washington, D.C.
Samuel M. Savin
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

Abstract

This report considers the scientific opportunities and problems for paleoclimatic research for three time intervals, 0-1000 yr, 0-30,000 yr, and 0-1 my. Each of these intervals is appropriate to understanding different parts of the climate problem. The most recent interval is one for which there exists the possibility of determining year-by-year changes in certain parts of the climatic system over a time span which overlaps the instrumental record. The interval 0 to 30,000 yr is one for which the response of many parts of the climate system during a major change in climate can be examined, and for which laC dating provides good chronological control. The interval 0 to 1.000,000 yr is one for which there is reasonably good chronological control. a well-developed global record of changes in the ocean, and the opportunity of investigating glacial-interglacial changes in global climate which appear to have a cyclic or quasi-cyclic component.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
University of Washington

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