Paleoclimatic Research: Status and Opportunities

Abstract

This report considers the scientific opportunities and problems for paleoclimatic research for three time intervals, 0-1000 yr, 0-30,000 yr, and 0-1 my. Each of these intervals is appropriate to understanding different parts of the climate problem. The most recent interval is one for which there exists the possibility of determining year-by-year changes in certain parts of the climatic system over a time span which overlaps the instrumental record. The interval 0 to 30,000 yr is one for which the response of many parts of the climate system during a major change in climate can be examined, and for which laC dating provides good chronological control. The interval 0 to 1.000,000 yr is one for which there is reasonably good chronological control. a well-developed global record of changes in the ocean, and the opportunity of investigating glacial-interglacial changes in global climate which appear to have a cyclic or quasi-cyclic component.