This two-volume book provides a comprehensive, detailed understanding of paleoclimatology beginning by describing the proxy data from which quantitative climate parameters are reconstructed and finally by developing a comprehensive Earth system model able to simulate past climates of the Earth. It compiles contributions from specialists in each field who each have an in-depth knowledge of their particular area of expertise.
The first volume is devoted to Finding, dating and interpreting the evidence. It describes the different geo-chronological technical methods used in paleoclimatology. Different fields of geosciences such as: stratigraphy, magnetism, dendrochronology, sedimentology, are drawn from and proxy reconstructions from ice sheets, terrestrial (speleothems, lakes, and vegetation) and oceanic data, are used to reconstruct the ancient climates of the Earth.

The second volume, entitled Investigation into ancient climates, focuses on building comprehensive models of past climate evolution. The chapters are based on understanding the processes driving the evolution of each component of the Earth system (atmosphere, ocean, ice). This volume provides both an analytical understanding of each component using a hierarchy of models (from conceptual to very sophisticated 3D general circulation models) and a synthetic approach incorporating all of these components to explore the evolution of the Earth as a global system.

As a whole this book provides the reader with a complete view of data reconstruction and modeling of the climate of the Earth from deep time to present day with even an excursion to include impacts on future climate.

Takes a comprehensive approach to the study of paleoclimatology, with contributions from specialists of each field Describes the climate of the Earth from deep time to the future Covers terrestrial data, paleoceanographic data and ice sheet records Gathers a large variety of different proxies within one book Uses all different techniques from geochronology and proxy data reconstruction to obtain quantitative reconstruction of climate from pole to equator Improves our understanding of the state of the art in modelling each component of the Earth climate system Explores a very large time span in modelling the Earth's climate from Precambrian to future climate

Autorentext

Gilles Ramstein is a director of research at Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE, France). His initial degree is in physics and since 1992 he has specialized in climate modeling.
He has been responsible for many French and European research projects on the Pleistocene, Cenozoic and Precambrian eras. He has also been the advisor of many PhD students who have explored and expanded the frontiers of paleoclimate modeling.
As a climate modeler, he studies very different climate contexts from "Snowball Earth" episodes (717-635 Ma) to more recent, and occasionally future, climate situations.The main research topics he focuses on are:

· Geological time from the Precambrian to the Cenozoic:

o Investigation of relationships between tectonics, the carbon cycle and the climate with an emphasis on the impact on the climate and the atmospheric CO2 cycle of major tectonic events such as plate movements, shrinkage of epicontinental seas, mountain range uplift and the opening/closing of seaways.

o Leading international collaborations on projects on monsoon evolutions and the dispersal of human ancestors during the Neogene periods.

· From the Pleistocene to future climate: in this framework, his major interests are interactions between orbital forcing factors, CO2 and climate. More specifically, his focus is on the response of the cryosphere, an important component of the climate system during these periods, with an emphasis on the development of the Greenland ice sheet at the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary and abrupt climate changes driven by ice sheet variations.

He has also published several books and coedited the French version of "Paleoclimatologie" (CNRS Edition) and contributed to an online masters program devoted to educating journalists on climate change (Understanding the interactions between climate, environment and society ACCES). Amaëlle Landais is a research director at Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE, France). Her initial degree is in physics and chemistry and, since her PhD in 2001, she has specialised in the study of ice cores.

Inhalt

1. The climate system: its functioning and history.- 2. The changing face of the Earth throughout the ages.- 3. Introduction to geochronology.- 4. Carbon-14.