GEOG 5410 - Paleoclimatology

Meets with GEOG 6410. Graduate students should enroll in GEOG 6410 and will be held to higher standards and/or more work. Paleoclimatology is the study of climate prior to the period of instrumental measurements. A longer perspective on past climate variability though studying natural phenomena which are climate-dependent provide a basis for understanding current, past and future climatic change. Understanding the records and mechanisms of past climate change provides an opportunity for hypothesis testing the causes of climatic change. The objective of this course is to review the earth's climate history in order to understand what that history can tell us about how the climate system operates, and how it may vary in the future. The main focus f the course will be on past climates, the types of records used to document past climates, and exploring climate model simulations frequently used in paleoclimatology.