CL
Climate: Past, Present & Future

Climate: Past, Present & Future

What speleothems can tell about the past climates !

September 5, 2017
What speleothems can tell about the past climates !
Speleothem laminas used to reproduce past precipitation patterns, soil productivity and its carbon dioxide content. Modified from Tan et al. (2006) and Johnson et al. (2006).

Name of the proxy: Stable isotope ratios of carbonates in speleothems Type of proxy: Precipitation, atmospheric circulation, CO2 availability in soil, soil productivity Paleoenvironment: Continental environments Period of time investigated: Present day to 10 million years How does it work? Speleothems are inorganic carbonate deposits growing in caves that form from super-saturated cave waters (wit ...[Read More]

Of butterflies and climate: how mathematics helps us to better understand the atmosphere

August 1, 2017

Applied mathematics is often seen as an obscure field, which the general public has no hope of ever understanding. In the context of climate science, this is far from the truth. In fact, many mathematical concepts and ideas applied to the study of the climate system stem from intuitive arguments. While their implementation can be very complex, understanding the basic ideas behind them does not req ...[Read More]

Corals, the thermometers of the past!

July 3, 2017
Corals, the thermometers of the past!
Picture of a diver on top of a coral colony in the American Samoa (credit B.K. Linsley).

Name of proxy: Coral Type of record: Oceanic variability Paleoenvironment: Fringing reefs, barrier reefs, or atoll Period of time investigated: Mainly the last 200 years How does it works ? What we usually picture as a coral is actually a colony of tiny living animals called coral polyps, which are closely related to jellyfish or anemones. They live in symbiosis with photosynthetic algae called Zo ...[Read More]

Defrosting the freezer. Climate change and glacial meltwater

May 15, 2017
Defrosting the freezer. Climate change and glacial meltwater

 Why are glaciers important? Glaciers cover around 10% of the global land surface. This includes the large ice sheets (e.g. in Greenland and Antarctica) as well as smaller ice caps and valley glaciers (e.g. in Iceland, Norway and New Zealand). Figure 1 shows the current distribution of glaciers around the world. Figure 1 – The global distribution of glaciers around the world from the GLIMS glacier ...[Read More]