Week 1 Lecture

Question 1

What is climate?

Answer 1

• Average conditions of a region measured over several decades
• Changes over years or longer.
• Large scale and long term framework in which weather occurs

Question 2

What is Weather?

Answer 2

• Shorter fluctuations in temperature, rain and snowfall and wind direction and speed that occur over hours, days, or weeks
• Local scale

Question 3

What are feedback mechanisms?

Answer 3

Processes that respond to external forcing by amplifying or dampening the initial strength of the forcing

Question 4

What marine sediment records resolution and time span?

Answer 4

• Can extend back to ~200 millions years

* Resolution up to centuries

Question 5

What ice core records resolution and time span?

Answer 5

Antarctica – 800 kyrs (1.5 Myr soon)
Greenland – 130 kyrs
seasonal resolution

Question 6

What kind of proxies can be gained from marine sediments?

Answer 6

dust
pollen
Dinoflagellate cysts
Diatom assemblages

Question 7

What kind of proxies can be gained from ice cores?

Answer 7

Oxygen isotope of the water 
Hydrogen isotopes (Deuterium) 
Layer thickness 
Volcanic ash 
Dust

Question 8

What kind of proxies can be gained from Lake sediments?

Answer 8

Charcoal – fire frequency and intensity
Foraminifera – water temperature and quality
Trace element composition – erosion, productivity
DNA – presence of certain animals in local area
Thickness of annual layers – temperature, lake
circulation

Question 9

What kind of proxies can be gained from Speleothems?

Answer 9

Oxygen isotopes –
Carbon isotopes – vegetation and soil
dynamics
Trace elements

Question 10

What time span can radiocarbon dating be used over?

Answer 10

<50,000 years

Question 11

What time span can Uranium-thorium dating be used over?

Answer 11

<500,000 years