What is the Walker Circulation? The El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ‘ENSO’, is one of the major causes of year to year variability in Earth’s climate. ENSO is characterised by: changes in the temperature of the ocean’s surface in the tropical Pacific Ocean, and by changes in atmospheric circulation in an east-west direction above the …[Read More]
– A debate among scientists and its impact on us The epoch of humans (and their obvious intervention in the Earth system) In order to understand what the ‘Anthropocene’ means for us, we need to define first what it actually is. This poses a rather complex question in itself, as various disciplines have given the …[Read More]
The Atlantic Ocean, a climate driver for Europe and North America The climate of both Europe and North America is influenced by the conditions of the Atlantic Ocean. This teleconnection between the ocean and the atmosphere has been the focus of great interest, especially in the context of ongoing global warming. For instance, Cresswell-Clay et …[Read More]
The climate of Earth’s most southerly landmass (i.e., Antarctica) has varied considerably throughout geological time. The Cretaceous (145-66 million years ago – mya) is widely considered to have been a greenhouse Earth with warmer (or at least warmish) temperatures, globally. Although, there is no direct evidence for pre-Eocene ice sheets in Antarctica, some geological and …[Read More]
The Earth’s climate has been rapidly changing in the last decades. That’s a fact! Virtually, every one of us has been experiencing those changes in person, but how do we know that Earth’s climate has changed in the past beyond the instrumental data of the last ~200 years? From ancient manuscripts to geologic records, there …[Read More]
Both the uncertainty inherent in scientific data, and the background and ethics of the communicators who report such data to any given audience, can sow doubt about the science of climate change. The perception of this duality is engrained in how the human mind works, whereby we tolerate lies but are always ready to condemn …[Read More]
Paleoecological use of land snail shells is no longer a new field of science. They are studied by malacologists and palaeontologists who specialise in the study of molluscs. During the last glaciation, loess, a light yellow, fine-grained sediment, was deposited over large areas, mainly in the periglacial regions of Eurasia and North America. In addition …[Read More]
After decades of observation, one of the profound consequences of anthropogenic global warming is the rapid rise in temperature in the Arctic, refered to as Arctic Amplification. Compared to the mid-latitudes, warming in the Arctic is twice as fast. The reason is mainly due to the positive feedback of a melting cryosphere: Darker surfaces are …[Read More]
Dear climate enthusiasts, EGU lovers, and early/senior climate scientists, With #EGU22 approaching, we wanted to give you a quick overview of the great short courses and great debates that are planned for this years’ General Assembly! If you want to learn more about the scientific sessions offered, please have a look at our Seasonal love …[Read More]
Previous blog posts have highlighted the importance of loess as an indicator of climate and environmental changes in the past. These posts showed the relevance of loess deposits as archives of Pleistocene climates and environments, the importance of using novel approaches in mapping these and other Quaternary-related sediments, the aspects of dating loess deposits, as …[Read More]
