Indicators Of Past Climate, Paleoclimatology

• Paleoclimatology is the study of past climate, for times prior to instrumental weather measurements.
Paleoclimatologists use clues from natural "proxy" sources such as tree rings, ice cores, corals, and ocean and lake sediments to understand natural climate variability

• From this proxy scientist are able to obtain precise information's on the past climate by reconstructing past temperatures and atmospheric CO2 content on a year by year basis

• For example, ice cores removed from 2 miles deep in the Antarctic contain atmospheric samples trapped in tiny air bubbles that date as far back as 650,000 years. These samples have allowed scientists to construct a precise historical record of greenhouse gas concentration stretching back hundreds of thousands of years

• Similar techniques can also be used to reconstruct the temperature of the past oceans from corals

• These information's collected from Paleoclimatic studies have been very useful in reconstructing our past climate and confirming some hints such as the correlation between levels of GHG in the atmosphere and the global surface temperature of the earth

Source of Information : Climate Change: A Silent Threat by Sylvain Richer de Forges

Indicators Of Past Climate, Paleoclimatology