Wizened bristlecone pines in California reveal past climate trends, and new research shows how slight variations in landscape position drive different growth patterns in trees’ annual rings.
proxies
Posted inNews
Penguin Poop Keeps a Record of Antarctic Glaciation
Scientists are digging up Adélie penguin guano to study millennia of Antarctica’s history.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Radiocarbon in the Oceans
Offsets in radiocarbon concentration within the ocean or between the ocean and the atmosphere are particularly useful proxies for a variety of studies.
Posted inNews
Tree Rings Tell a Tale of Wartime Privations
In occupied Norway during World War II, the German navy deployed thick chemical fog to protect a precious battleship. The effects are still detectable in trees.
Posted inScience Updates
Reconstructing Climate and Environment from Coral Archives
Tropical Coral Archives—Reconstructions of Climate and Environment Beyond the Instrumental Record at Society-Relevant Timescales; Bremen, Germany, 28 September 2017
Posted inFeatures
Five Weird Archives That Scientists Use to Study Past Climates
When tree rings, ice cores, and cave formations can’t cut it, try your luck with whale earwax or bat poop.
Posted inNews
Boiled or Raw, Snail Shells Keep an Environmental Archive
Snail shells discovered at archaeological sites might still accurately record past weather and vegetation despite being the leftovers of a past meal.
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Volcanic Woes May Have Contributed to Ancient Egypt’s Fall
Ice cores and ancient river records suggest that volcanic eruptions may have reduced the flow of the Nile River. Failures of the Nile floods that usually irrigated Egypt’s farms could have fed social unrest.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Mushrooms Could Provide a Record of Grassland History
Scientists measured carbon isotopes in certain types of fungi to assess whether the organisms can track how climate change is affecting grasses.
Posted inNews
Bat Guano: A Possible New Source for Paleoclimate Reconstructions
Nitrogen isotopes within samples of bat excrement accurately reflect modern precipitation patterns. So could guano serve as a paleoclimate record?