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Syllabus: Geo 538, Paleoclimatology (Spring, 2004)

Introduction (lectures)

• Friday, Feb. 6: Ocean and atmosphere dynamics relevant to glacial-interglacial climate change
• Friday, Feb. 6: Signature features of the Pleistocene and Holocene climate records
• Monday, Feb. 9: Isotopes in paleoclimate

What was the climate of the ice age world, and how was it maintained?

• Monday, Feb. 16: Extent of the ice sheets
  • Peter: Fairbanks, R. G. (1989) A 17,000 year glacio-eustatic sea level record: influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation, Nature, 342, 637-642.
• Friday, Feb. 20: Isotopic constraints on glacial temperatures and ice volumes
  • Karin: Peltier, W. R. (1984) Ice age paleotopography, Science, 265, 195-201.
  • Jan: Shackleton, N. J. (1967) Oxygen isotope analyses and Pleistocene temperatures re-assessed, Nature, 215, 15-17.
  • Gabrielle: Adkins, J. F., K. McIntyre, and D. P. Schrag (2002) The salinity, temperature, and δ¹⁸O of the glacial deep ocean, Science, 298, 1769-1773.
• Friday, Feb. 20: Faunal, alkenone, and Mg/Ca paleotemperatures in the tropics
  • Michael: Rosenthal, Y., and G. P. Lohmann (2002) Accurate estimation of sea surface temperatures using dissolution-corrected calibrations for Mg/Ca paleothermometry, Paleoceanography, 17, 30910.1029/2001PA000749.
• Monday, Feb. 23: Faunal, alkenone, and Mg/Ca paleotemperatures in the tropics, continued
  • Class reading: Brassell, S. C., G. Eglinton, I. T. Marlowe, U. Pflaumann and M. Sarnthein (1986);
    Molecular stratigraphy: a new tool for climatic assessment, Nature, 320, 129-133.
  • Patrick: Rosenthal, Y., Delia W. Oppo, and Braddock K. Linsley (2003) The amplitude and phasing of climate change during the last deglaciation in the Sulu Sea, western equatorial Pacific, Geophysical Research Letters, 30, No. 8, 1428, doi:10.1029/2002GL016612, 2003.
  • Neven: Bard, Edouard (2001) Comarison of alkenone estimates with other paleotemperature proxies, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, Paper number 2000GC000050.
  • Manuel: Sonzogni, C., E. Bard, and F. Rostek (1998) Tropical sea surface temperatures during the last glacial period: a view based on alkenones in Indian Ocean sediments, Quaternary Science Reviews, 17, 1185-1201.
  • Yi: Trend-Staid, Melissa, and Warren L. Prell (2002) Sea surface temperature at the Last Glacial Maximum: A reconstruction using the modern analog technique, Paleoceanography, 17, No. 4, 1065, doi:10.1029/2000PA000506.
• Monday, March 1: Continental paleoclimates, Snowlines during the LGM
  • Neven: Porter, Steven C. (2001) Snowline depression in the tropics during the Last Glaciation, Quaternary Science Reviews 20 (2001) 1067-1091.
• Friday, March 5: Continental paleoclimates, continued
  • Ground water paleotemperatures: Karin: Stute, M., M. Forster, H. Frischkorn, A Serejo, J. f. Clark, P. Schlosser, W. S. Broecker, and G. Bonani (1995) Cooling of tropical Brazil during the Last Glacial Maximum, Science, 269, 379-383.
  • Low latitude paleoclimates based on lake levels: Peter: Johnson, T. C., Erik T. Brown, James McManus, Sylvia Barry, Philip Barker and Francoise Gasse (2002) A high-resolution paleoclimate record spanning the past 25,000 years in Southern East Africa, Science, 296, 113-132 (but note that the article is only 4 pages).
  • Class reading: Baker, Paul A. (2002) Trans-Atlantic climate connections, Science,296, 67-68.
  • Pollen during the LGM: Gabrielle: Prentice, I. Colin, Dominique Jolly, and BIOME 6000 participants (2000) Mid-Holocene and glacial-maximum vegetation geography of the northern continents and Africa, Journal of Biogeography, 27, 507-519.
  • Atmospheric dust loading during the LGM: Patrick: Mahowald, Natalie, Karen Kohfield, Margaret Hansson, Yves Balkanski, Sandy Harrison, Colin Prentice, Michael Schulz, and Henning Rodhe (1999) Dust sources and deposition during the last glacial maximum and current climate: A comparison of model results with paleodata from ice cores and marine sediments, Journal of Geophysical Research, 104, 15,895-15,916.
• Monday, March 8: Guest lecture, Jess Adkins, Caltech
• Friday, March 12: Atmospheric forcing of climate change during the LGM
  • Radiative forcing by dust Yi: Claquin, t., C. Roelandt, K. E. Kohfeld, S. P. Harrison, I. Tegen, I. c. Prentice, Y. Balkanski, G. Bergametti, M. Hansson, N. Mahowald, H. Rodhe, and M. Schulz (2003) Radiative forcing of climate by ice-age atmospheric dust, Climate Dynamics, 20, 193-202.
  • Radiative forcing by greenhouse gases Neven: Monnin, E., A. Indermuhle, A. Dallenbach, J. fluckiger, B. Stauffer, T. F. Stocker, D. Raynaud, and J.-M. Barnola (2001) Atmospheric CO₂ concentrations over the last glacial termination, Science, 291, 112-114.
• Friday, March 12: Environmental models of the LGM
  • Class paper: Broccoli, Anthony J. (2000) Tropical cooling at the Last Glacial Maximum: An atmosphere-mixed layer ocean model simulation, Journal of Climate, 13, 951-976.
  • Class paper: Crowley, T. J. and S. K. Baum (1997) Effect of vegetatin on an ice-age climate model simulation, Journal of Geophysical Research, 102, 16,463-16,480.
  • Optional class paper: Harrison, Sandy P. and Colin I. Prentice (2003) Climate and CO2 controls on global vegetation distribution at the last glacial maximum: analysis based on palaeovegetation data, biome modeling, and paleoclimate simulations, Global Change Biology, 9, 983-1004.

What was the nature of the 100 kyr climate cycle, and what was its origin?

• March 22: Lecture
• March 26:
  • Sea level variations during glacial cycles: Patrick: Siddall, M., E. J. Rohling, A. Almogi-Labin, Ch. Hemleben, D. Melschner, I Schmelzer, and D. A. Smeed (2003) Sea-level fluctuations during the last glacial cycle, Nature, 423, 853-858.
  • Precession and eccentricity influence in the 100 kyr cycle: Yi: Beaufort, Luc, Yves Lancelot, Pierre Camberlin, Olivia Cayre, Edith Vincent, Franck Bassinot, and Laurent Labeyrie (1997) Insolation cycles as a major control of equatorial Indian Ocean primary production, Science, 278, 1451-1454.
  • Characteristics and causes of the 100 kyr cycle: Gabrielle: Imbrie, J., A. Berger, E. A. Boyle, S. C. Clemens, A. Duffy, W. R. Howard, G. Kukla, J. Kutzbach, D. G. Martinson, A. McIntyre, A. C. Mix, B. Molfino, J. J. Morley, L. C. Peterson, N. G. Pisias, W. L. Prell, M. E. Raymo, N. J. Shackleton, and J. R. Toggweiler (1993) On the structure and origin of major glaciation cycles 2. The 100,000-year cycle. Paleoceanography, 8, 699-735.
  • A climate model of the 100 kyr cycle: Peter: Jackson, C. S. and A. J. Broccoli (2003) Orbital forcing of Arctic climate: mechanisms of climate response and implications for continental glaciation, Climate Dynamics, 21, 539-557.
• March 29: Climate terminations:
  • Neven: Tarasov, L., and W. Richard Peltier (1999) Impact of thermomechanical ice sheet coupling on a model of the 100 kyr ice age cycle, Journal of Geophysical Research, 104, 9517-9545.
  • Karin: Knorr, Gregor and Gerrit Lohmann (2003) Southern Ocean origin for the resumption of Atlantic thermohaline circulation during deglaciation, Nature, 424, 532-536.

What was the nature of rapid climate change events, and what were the dynamics?

• Friday, April 2
  • Overview (1 hour lecture): Michael
  • Observing links between the monsoon and rapid climate change: Peter: Wang, Y. J., H. Cheng, R. L. Edwards, Z. S. An, J. Y. Wu, C.-C. Shen, and J. A. Dorale (2001) A high-resolution absolute-dated late Pleistocene monsoon record from Hulu Cave, China, 294, 2345-2348.
  • Evidence for a connection between rapid climate change and the ocean conveyor circulation: Patrick: Elliot, Mary, Laurent Labeyrie, and Jean-Claude Duplessy (2002) Changes in North Atlantic deep-water formation associated with the Dansgaard-Oeschger temperature oscillations (60-10 ka), Quaternary Science Reviews, 21, 1153-1165.
• Monday, April 5 (2 hour class)
  • Modeling studies of the relation between the conveyor circulation and rapid climate change: pro and con: Yi: Stocker, Thomas F., and Johnsen, Sigfus (2003) A minimum thermodynamic model for the bipolar seesaw, Paleoceanography, 18, 1087, doi:10.1029/2003PA000920. Your guess is as good as mine as to what all these numbers mean.
  • Gabrielle: Ganopolski, Andrey, and Stefan Rahmstorf (2001) Rapid changes of glacial climate simulated in a coupled climate model, Nature, 409, 153-158.
  • Neven: Seager, R., D. S. Battisti, J. Yin, N. Gordon, N. Naik, A. C. Clement and M. A. Cane (2002) Is the Gulf Stream responsible for Europe's mild winters? Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 128, 2563-2586.
  • Equatorial origin of rapid climate change events: a model Karin: Clement, Amy C., Mark A. Cane and Richard Seager (2001) An orbitally driven tropical source for abrupt climate change, Journal of Climate, 14, 2369-2375.

How did climate change shape the physiological and cultural evolution of man during the past 50 kyr, up to the Holocene?

• Monday, April 12
  • Overview (1 hour lecture): Michael
• Friday, April 16
  • Connections between the evolution of early hominids in Africa and African climate: Class paper: DeMenocal, Peter B. (2004) African climate change and faunal evolution during the Pliocene-Pleistocene, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 220, 3-24.
  • Climate, megafaunal extinctions, and the appearance of man in Australia
  • Class paper: Diamond, Jared, Australia's last giants (News and Views article), Nature, 411, 755-757.
  • Yi: Bowler, James M., Harvey Johnston, Jon Olley, John Prescott, Richard Robers, Wilfred Shawcross, and Nigel A. Spooner, New ages for human occupation and climatic change at Lake Mungo, Australia, Nature, 421, 837-840.
  • Interstadial climate change and the evolution of man in Europe Gabrielle: D'Errico, Francesco and Maria Fernanda Sanchez Goni (2003) Neandertal extinction and the millennial scale climatic variability of OIS 3, Quaternary Science Reviews, 22, 769-788.
• Monday, April 19
  • Late glacial climate history of Beringia, Bering land bridge, and the appearance of man in the Americas Class paper: Kelly, Robert L. (2003) Maybe we do know when people first came to North America; and what does it mean if we do? Quaternary International, 109-110, 133-145.
  • Karin: Goebel, Ted, Michael R. Waters, and Margarita Dikova (2003) The archaeology of Ushki Lake, Kamchatka, and the Pleistocene peopling of the Americas, Science, 301, 501-505.
  • Karin: Ager, Thomas A. (2003) Late Quaternary vegetation and climate history of the central Bering land bridge from St. Michael Island, western Alaska, Quaternary Research, 60, 19-32.
  • Neven: Pitulko, V. V., P. A. Nikolsky, E. Yu Girya, A. E. Basilyan, V. E. Tumovskoy, S. A. Koulakov, S. N. Astakhov, E. Yu Pavlova, and M. A. Anisimov (2003) The Yana RHS site: Humans in the Arctic before the last glacial maximum, Science, 303, 52-56.

What are the major climate changes of the Holocene, and have these been influenced by man?

• Friday, April 23
  • Overview (1 hour lecture): Michael
  • Holocene climate variations linked to insolation: Neven: Haug, Gerald H., Konrad A. Jugher, Daniel M. Sigman, Larry C. Peterson, and Ursula Rohl (2001) Southward migration of the intertropical convergence zone through the Holocene, Science, 293, 1304-1308.
  • Gabrielle: Prentice, I. Colin, Sandy P. Harrison, Dominique Jolly and Joel Guiot (1998) The climate and biomes of Europe at 6000 yr B. P.: comparison of model simulations and pollen-based reconstructions, Quaternary Science Reviews, 17, 659-668.
• Monday, April 26
  • Holocene climate variations linked to solar variability: Karin: Eddy, John A. (1976) The Maunder Minimum, Science, 192, 1189-1202.
  • Patrick: Bond, Gerard, Bernd Kromer, Juerg Beer, Raimund Muscheler, Michael N. Evans, William Showers, Sharon Hoffmann, Rusty Lotti-Bond, Irka Hajdas, Georges Bonani (2001) Persistent solar influence on north Atlantic climate during the Holocene, Science, 294, 2130-2136.
• Friday, April 30
  • Yi: Hu, Feng Sheng, Darrell Kaufman, Sumiko Yonejim David Nelson, Aldo Shemesh, Yongsong Huang, Jian Tian, Georard Bond, Benjamin Clegg and Thomas Brown (2003) Cyclic variation an solar forcing of Holocene climate in the Alaskan subarctic, Science, 301, 1890-1893.
  • An ice core record of Holocene climate change: Peter: Thompson, Lonnie G. Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Mary E. Davis, Keith A. Henderson, Henry H. Brecher, Victor S. Zagorodnov, Tracy A. Mashiotta, Ping-Nan Lin, Vladimir N. Mikhalenko, Douglas R. Hardy, and Jurg Beer (2002) Kilimanjaro ice core records: Evidence of Holocene climate change in tropical Africa, Science, 298, 589-593.
  • The Holocene and the Anthropocene: Class paper: Ruddiman, William (2003) The anthropogenic greenhouse era began thousands of years ago, Climatic Change, 61, 261-293.