Paleoclimatology

Catalog description

This course will discuss past climate dynamics, as well as touch on what we know about ancient environments, human interactions and responses to changing climates, and methodological developments within the field. We will emphasize topics that span the Earth system (atmosphere-biospheregeosphere-oceans) and use the paleoclimate record to inform future global change. We will also think about what a proxy and archive mean for a signal being recorded and use real data to extract and interpret past climate signals. The first 2/3 of the semester will be a combination of paired lectures and student-led discussion of foundational and recent exciting scientific literature around topics that help us explore what drives climate change over different timescales. The last 1/3 of the semester will allow students to work with real paleoclimate data by exploring existing datasets that inform their own research or interests and applying statistical techniques common in the field. Student participation is important for success in this course, and paleoclimate datasets will serve as the basis for a capstone project.