The scientific study of climates predating the invention of meteorological instruments, reconstructed from proxies preserved in rocks, sediments, boreholes, ice sheets, tree rings, corals, shells and microfossils. Because instrumental records span only a tiny part of Earth's history, its reconstructions of the frequent glaciations, of rapid coolings like the Younger Dryas and of rapid warmings like the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum anchor the understanding of natural climate variation and of the current warming. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Central QuestionWhat were Earth's climates before instruments existed to measure them, and what do those past states say about natural variation? 1 ScopePaleoclimatology reconstructs past climates using proxy evidence, ice cores, tree rings, ocean sediments and cave formations, that record temperature and precipitation before instrumental records began. 1 SignificancePaleoclimatology provides the long baseline against which modern, human-caused climate change is measured and calibrates the models used to project its future course. 1 Paleoclimatology
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FAQs
How can scientists know what Earth's climate was like millions of years ago, before anyone was measuring it?
From proxy evidence such as ice cores, ocean sediments, cave formations and tree rings, natural records that change in step with temperature or precipitation and can be calibrated into a climate history.
Paleoclimatologists read climate history from proxy evidence, natural records that change in step with temperature or precipitation at the time they formed. Ice cores trap tiny bubbles of ancient air and record the chemistry of the snow that fell; ocean sediments and cave formations build up in layers whose chemistry shifts with climate; tree rings vary in width with the conditions of the year they grew. None of these proxies is a thermometer, but calibrated together they let scientists reconstruct climate conditions long before instrumental measurement began.
Connections
Associated With
The frequent glaciations Earth has undergone are among the periods paleoclimatologists study most.
Source Paleoclimatology (Wikipedia)
Has Scientist
Includes
Source 4.2-kiloyear event (Wikipedia)
Source 8.2-kiloyear event (Wikipedia)
Source Azolla event (Wikipedia)
Source Carboniferous rainforest collapse (Wikipedia)
Source Messinian salinity crisis (Wikipedia)
Source Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (Wikipedia)
A geohistorical hypothesis about Earth's icehouse climates.
Source Snowball Earth (Wikipedia)
Source Volcanic winter of 536 (Wikipedia)
Source Younger Dryas (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Paleoclimatology (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead sectionQuote, Lead section
the scientific study of climates predating the invention of meteorological instruments, when no direct, artificial measurement data were available
8.2-kiloyear event (Wikipedia)
Includes: 8.2-Kiloyear Event, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)Quote, Includes: 8.2-Kiloyear Event, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)
The 8.2-kiloyear event was a rapid drop in global temperatures that occurred around 8,200 years ago (BP), lasting between two and four centuries.
4.2-kiloyear event (Wikipedia)
Includes: 4.2-Kiloyear Event, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)Quote, Includes: 4.2-Kiloyear Event, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)
The 4.2-kiloyear event (also known as the 4.2 ka event) was an aridification event (long-term drought), 4,200 years ago.
Volcanic winter of 536 (Wikipedia)
Includes: Volcanic Winter of 536, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)Quote, Includes: Volcanic Winter of 536, Lead paragraph (in-discipline)
The volcanic winter of 536 was among the most severe and protracted episodes of climatic cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last two thousand years.
Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (Wikipedia)
Includes: Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Lead paragraphQuote, Includes: Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Lead paragraph
The Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM), alternatively Eocene thermal maximum 1 (ETM1) and formerly known as the Initial Eocene or Late Paleocene thermal maximum, was a geologically brief time interval characterized by a 5-8 °C (9-14 °F) global average temperature rise and massive input of carbon into the ocean and atmosphere.
Azolla event (Wikipedia)
Includes: Azolla Event, Lead paragraphQuote, Includes: Azolla Event, Lead paragraph
The Azolla event is a paleoclimatology scenario hypothesized to have occurred in the middle Eocene epoch, around 49 million years ago, when blooms of the carbon-fixing freshwater fern Azolla are thought to have happened in the Arctic Ocean.
Messinian salinity crisis (Wikipedia)
Includes: Messinian Salinity Crisis, Lead paragraphQuote, Includes: Messinian Salinity Crisis, Lead paragraph
The Messinian salinity crisis (also referred to as the Messinian event, and in its latest stage as the Lago Mare event) was an event in which the Mediterranean Sea dried up, in a cycle of partial or nearly complete desiccation throughout the latter part of the Messinian age of the Miocene epoch, from 5.96 to 5.33 Ma (million years ago).
Carboniferous rainforest collapse (Wikipedia)
Includes: Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse, Lead paragraphQuote, Includes: Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse, Lead paragraph
The Carboniferous rainforest collapse (CRC) was a minor extinction event that occurred around 305 million years ago in the Carboniferous period.
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