Paleoclimate and climate

variability

Earth Surface Dynamics

Matthias Bernet, Ph.D.
matthias.bernet@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr
Bernet (2009)
Burbank and Anderson (2011)
Paleoclimatology research

Archives of the paleoclimate record include:

•Lake Sediments
•Ice Cores
•Tree Rings
•Speleothems
•Corals
Presentation

Lake sediments
Lina Al-Najjar
Presentation
Tree rings

Clara Louise Chabot

 Tree rings

Figure 11.5 – A photomicrograph showing tree rings for years 1504-1520 on a

Douglas fir core specimen. The black and white bar across the bottom illustrates
which components would be measured as earlywood (white) and latewood (black).
Image Credit: USGS, Public Domain.

https://uhlibraries.pressbooks.pub/historicalgeologylab/chapter/paleoclimate/
 During dry years, trees hardly grow at all and create narrow
rings. However, during rainy years, trees will grow more than
Tree rings usual and have wide rings.

Figure 11.6 – Long tree ring chronologies can be constructed by matching overlapping
patterns of different trees. Image credit: Andreas Schmittner, CC BY-NC.
 Tree rings

Individual events such as forest

Short- and long-term variability of rainfall along the
fires are recorded in tree-rings.
eastern margin of the Sierra Nevada is recorded in
The dark arcs that interrupt the
bristlecone tree rings. Several long and intense
sequence of rings in this sample
droughts that appear in the tree-rings are also found
were caused by fires in the 19th
in sediments in nearby Mono Lake. (Graph derived
century. (Photograph copyright H.
from Hughes 1996)
D. Grissino-Mayer)
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Paleoclimatology_CloseUp
Presentation
Ice cores

Gregory More
 Presentation
Speleothems/cave deposits

Sarah Perrinel
Figure 11.2 – Oxygen
isotope changes during
a) warmer and b) colder
climates. Oxygen-16
preferentially
evaporates because it is
lighter. During colder
times, the ratio of
oxygen-18 to oxygen-16
in seawater increases
because the evaporated
oxygen-16 gets stored in
ice sheets on continents
Figure 11.3 – Oxygen isotope record for the past 800,000 years from foraminifera shells.
Data from Lisieckie and Raymo, 2005. Image credit: Daniel Hauptvogel, CC BY.
Figure 11.4 – Sea-level and oxygen isotope records for the past 65 myr. 0 in sea level represents
modern sea level, positive numbers mean sea level was higher than today, and negative
numbers mean sea level was lower. The light blue in the oxygen isotope data is the complete
data set, the dark blue line is a 25-pt smoothing. Data from Miller et al. (2020). Image credit:
Daniel Hauptvogel, CC BY-NC-SA.
Figure 11.11 – This map shows the regional extent of Picea mariana. The graph shows
the range of annual precipitation and average July (warmest month) temperature
Picea mariana grows in. Picea glauca has similar distribution and climate parameters.
Data from Thompson et al. (2015). Image credit: adapted from Thompson et al.
(2015), Public Domain.
Figure 11.12 – Evolution of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during deglaciation. Numbers represent
different ice streams (regions of fast-moving ice) and letters represent ice drainage divides;
not relevant to this exercise. Image credit: adapted from Margold et al. (2018), CC BY.
From Poulsen et al., Science 2010. Simulated changes in rainfall associated with late
Miocene uplift of the Andes.
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/
Climate engineering

https://www.dw.com/en/fine-tuning-the-climate/av-55252604