CL
Climate: Past, Present & Future

Climate: Past, Present & Future

Mountain glacier variations: natural thermometers and rainfall gauges

February 14, 2018
Mountain glacier variations: natural thermometers and rainfall gauges
Glaciers from the Andes Cordillera (Peru, Southern America). Photo credit: Julien Charreau

Name of proxy Fluctuations of mountain glaciers Type of record Geomorphological features Paleoenvironment Continent – High mountain areas Period of time investigated From historical periods (c.a. 300 years ago) to the end of the Pleistocene (up to 200 000 years back in time) How does it work? Mountain – or “alpine” – glaciers are small ice bodies (from 1 to 10 000 km2). Alt ...[Read More]

Varves – Revealing the past layer by layer

December 22, 2017
Varves – Revealing the past layer by layer
Figure 1. Extraction and splitting of glacial lake cores from Chat Moss, Lancashire, U.K.

Name of proxy Varved glacial lake sediments Type of record Sedimentological structures Paleoenvironment Ice marginal lake environments Period of time investigated Last Glacial Termination (LGT, c.21-14 thousands of years (ka)) to present times How do varves work? Proglacial lakes form in front of glaciers and act as sinks for water and sediment flowing from melting ice. Analyses of proglacial lake ...[Read More]

What is in the (European) air?

December 6, 2017
What is in the (European) air?
Figure 1: ICOS station network (ICOS ERIC, https://www.icos-ri.eu)

You thought that Mauna Loa was the only observatory to provide continuous measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and were disappointed because Hawaii is way too far from your study area or because you wanted to know how bad  the air is in your hometown? The US have been monitoring the composition of the atmosphere since 1972, but what about Europe? Since 2008, Europe has its own ...[Read More]

Forams, the sea thermometers of the past!

November 24, 2017
Forams, the sea thermometers of the past!
Figure 1: Planktonic foraminifera Globigerina bulloides specimen (scanning electron microscope picture of Isabel Cacho).

Name of proxy Mg/Ca-SST on planktonic foraminifera shell Type of record Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Paleoenvironment Marine environments Period of time investigated 55 Million years ago to recent times How does it work ? Foraminifera (or Forams) are single-celled organisms varying from less than 1 mm to several cm in size. They are very abundant in the ocean floor (benthic species) or floating a ...[Read More]