| Topic |
Sub-topic |
| Topic 0. Introduction to palaeoclimatology and paleoceanography |
0.1. Aims of the course;
0.2. Lectures and of topics addressed by the course;
0.3. Laboratory practicals;
0.4. Seminars;
0.5. Assessment. |
| Topic 1. Basic concepts and current climate change |
1.1. Overview of climate change and methods of investigation;
1.2. Spatial and temporal scales of climate change;
1.3. Climate change and climate variability;
1.4. Earth's climate and energy budget;
1.5. Forcing, feedback, and response mechanisms of the climate system;
1.6. Transient climate response, equilibrium climate sensitivity, and Earth system sensitivity;
1.7. Global warming and the 1.5ºC and 2.0ºC climate thresholds. |
| Topic 2. Proxies of past ocean and climate change |
2.1. Introduction to proxies and tracers;
2.2. Micropaleontological proxies and transfer functions;
2.3. Geochemical proxies;
2.4. Geophysical proxies;
2.5. Sedimentological and mineralogical proxies. |
| Topic 3. Chronologies of past ocean and climate change |
3.1. The importance of chronology to decipher timing and rates of change;
3.2. Radiometric methods of dating (e.g., uranium-thorium, radiocarbon);
3.3. Oxygen isotope stratigraphy;
3.4. Site to site correlations.
|
| Topic 4. Tectonic-Scale Climate Change |
4.1. Plate tectonics, weathering, CO2, and long-term climate;
4.2. Greenhouse and icehouse climates.
|
| Topic 5. Orbital-Scale Climate Change |
5.1. Astronomical control of solar radiation;
5.2. Insolation control of ice sheets;
5.3. Insolation control of monsoons;
5.4. Orbital-scale forcing, feedbacks, and responses;
5.5. The 40,000- and the 100,000-year ice-age cycles.
|
| Topic 6. Millennial- and centennial-scale (suborbital) climate variability |
6.1. Patterns and mechanisms of sub-orbital climate variability;
6.2. The role of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets;
6.3. The role of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation;
6.4. The role of solar output;
6.5. Dansgaard-Oeschger, Heinrich events, and Bond cycles. |
| Topic 7. The role of the ocean in atmospheric CO2 variations |
7.1. Terrestrial, atmospheric, and oceanic reservoirs of carbon;
7.2. Ocean carbonate chemistry and the carbonate compensation feedback;
7.3. Glacial-interglacial variations in atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
|
| Laboratory practicals |
Quantitative exercises and/or practical, analytical examples related with the subjects developed during the course.
The course involves 3 laboratory practicals: Laboratory practical 1 (foraminiferal proxies); Laboratory practical 2 (climate sensitivity); Laboratory practical 3 (magnetism applied to palaeoclimatology).
|
| Seminars |
The course includes 3 seminars that will deepen some of the main topics of the course (patterns of palaeoclimate change, palaeoclimate proxies, ocean-atmosphere interactions, palaeoclimate variability). |
