Determining
the Past Climate
Paleoclimatology - the study of past
climates.
¥Past 100-200
years (weather observations)
¥Must use
indirect climate measures, proxies, to examine
further into the past. Some proxies:
-
Tree
rings (1,000+ years before present BP)-
Trapped pollen (10,000+ years BP)-
Glacial ice cores (100,000+ years BP)-
Ocean sediment cores (1 Million+ years BP)-
Geology (1 Billion+ years BP)