3. Outline The goal The goal Types of archives Types of archives Methods and data Selected results Quality of archives European temperatures Regional impact of tropical volcanic eruptions Challenges for (southern) South America

4. The Goal: Regional temperature evolution over the past millennia (example: northern hemishpere) Wikipedia, 2005 The goal Example

5. Types of archives a)Natural archives and proxies b)Documentary data, early intrumental data

9. Data and methods Examples from Europe

10. Reconstruction method

12. Selected results Examples from Europe - Which one of the proxies is the ‚best‘ in a given area and for a given season? - How did temperatures change in winter and summer? - What is the spatial structure of extreme events (cold summers, hot summers)? - What is the influence of tropical volcanic eruptions on temperatures? Example

17. LOTRED approach: The way to paleoclimatology If once the spatial patterns of different climatic state variables are known through time (‚series of maps, climate fields‘) the synoptic-scale atmospheric mechanisms and processes may be studied and climate regimes assessed. This is „paleoclimatology“.

18. Open questions Which data sets are available? What is the ‚best‘ resolution? (annual - decadal) Can the proxy be seasonally resolved? What is the spatial structure and the amplitude of climate change during the last 500 to 1000 years? Is the 20th century unusual? Can we improve the ENSO Index time series? Can we attribute climate anomalies to forcings?

19. http://www.pages.unibe.ch/science/initiatives/lotred-sa/