Past Climates and Proxies Essay

The reading by Arbogast discusses some of the Climate Archives.  Additional discussion can be found at the Columbia University class notes.

  • How do different Climate Archives record climate proxies and at what time resolution?
  • What is the main driver for climate oscillations over the past one million years?  What is the main characteristic of these glacial cycles and what does this tell you about the behavior of large ice sheets?

The IPCC Report discusses the effect of solar forcing and volcanic activity on climate, and the role of CO2.

  • Decribe how the Sun and volcanic activity have influenced climate over the past 8000 years.  Is the Sun a major driver of current climate change and why (not)?
  • Discuss the correlation between atmospheric CO2 and global climate on geologic time scales (millions of years).  Describe climate evolution over the last 60 million years.
  • What mechanism is responsible for Polar Amplification?  What is the main difference between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere?

Dessler shows atmospheric CO2 concentrations over the last 400 million years.  During most of this time, concentrations were significantly higher than today.

  • Given the this record of CO2 in the atmosphere, why should we be worried about current trends in CO2 with concentrations likely to remain below the long-term average?
  • During glacial cycles, atmospheric CO2 began falling and rising after the atmospheric temperature did.  Does this mean CO2 is not a main driver of climate change, and why (not)?
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