1. Paleoclimatology “The present is the key to the past” James Hutton
Arne Winguth, Liz Griffith, and Cornelia Winguth

2. What is paleoclimatology?
Paleoclimatology is the study of changes in climate during the history of Earth. Climate is the weather conditions prevailing in an area over a long period.

3. How can we reconstruct the climate of the past?
Climate of the past can explored by
Rocks and sediments on land
Marine sediments
Ice cores
Tree rings
Fossil records from ancient plants and animals
Pollen records
Climate modeling

4. Catwalk Derrick, Drill Floor Labs, Living, …
Saying farewell to the JOIDES Resolution
Arrival in Mumbai, INDIA
After 2 months at sea
Catwalk
Derrick,
Drill Floor
Labs, Living, …
May 2015, from water taxi

5. Sediment core
retrieved from borehole as part of the International
Ocean Drilling
Program

6. Labeling the core sections
Cutting open the core sections
Just a handful of processes that occur in the labs on the ship… after the core is drilled
Sampling the core for paleomag
Describing the changes
in the core…
Looking for fossils in the sediment

7. Extinction of Microplankton (Foraminifera)
Cibicidoides alleni, extinct at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary;
Courtesy Ellen Thomas, Yale University

8. Climate models using complex math like the “Primitive Equations”
Equations of Motion
First and Second Law of Thermodynamics
Equation of continuity (mass conservation)

9. Global general circulation models predict climate for the atmosphere and ocean
Climate models
simulate the flow of mass and energy.
are highly complex.
use cells to model oceans and the atmosphere.
depend on good data.
are increasingly accurate.
lack regional resolution.
Climate science uses fastest computer
in the world to solve complex mathematical
equations for millions of boxes

11. Model-Data Differences Early Eocene 56 Million Years Ago