Topics, Tools and Techniques in Paleoclimate Research

Motivating Questions in Paleoclimatology
Speaker: Jonathan Overpeck
January 21, 2004

Summary prepared by Leslie McCluskey

This week's talk was our gross introduction to paleoclimatology. We focused on what motivates paleoclimate research and compels us as paleoclimatologists.  Right now one of the largest motivations is in trying to determine whether Yucca Mountain is a safe place to deposit high-level toxic waste. This is a use-driven situation so the problem guides current research. The solution entails environmental reconstructions that will prove or disprove the stability of the site over the next 10,000 years. Additionally, the past century of climate change is currently of huge interest. Scientists are interested to know what magnitude of change is natural and what is anthropogenic.

Mike adds: I found the questions: (1) What is the sensitivity of Earth's climate to various forcings? and (2) What is the amplitude of forcing for which abrupt changes, or climatic "surprises", may occur? to be central to Peck's discussion.

The session concluded with small group discussion of key scientific questions from box 6.2 in the National Academy of Sciences reading. Our goal was to come up with a few questions that we found to be compelling as a group and present to the class. Between the three groups, there was surprisingly little consensus. There was no single question highlighted by all groups.  The problem, it seems, is that each group had operationalized compelling to mean something different. For one group, the hydrologic cycle and implications of research for risk management were compelling. Long-term predictability was the key for another group. The last group saw societal benefit as being compelling/motivating. Though we wrapped up discussion fairly quickly, the differences in opinion just between our small groups shows the dynamic nature of paleoclimate research.

Back to TTT04 syllabus.