Abstract. Stable water isotopes are natural tracers in the hydrological cycle and have been applied hydrology, atmospheric science, ecology, paleoclimatology. However, factors controlling isotopic distribution, both at spatial temporal scales, debated low middle latitude regions, due to significant influence of large-scale circulation complex sources vapor. For first time, we made situ observat...

Stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ18O) of tree-ring α-cellulose are important tools in paleoclimatology, ecology, plant physiology and genetics. The Multiple Sample Isolation System for Solids (MSISS) was a major advance in the tree-ring α-cellulose extraction methods, offering greater throughput and reduced labor input compared to traditional alternatives. However, the usability of the method f...

A fundamental problem in paleoclimatology is to take fully into account the various error sources when examining proxy records with quantitative methods of statistical time series analysis. Records from dated climate archives such as speleothems add extra uncertainty from the age determination to the other sources that consist in measurement and proxy errors. This paper examines three stalagmit...

The paper by Li, Nychka and Ammann (2010) has exemplified the power of Bayesian Hierarchical Models to solve fundamental problems in paleoclimatology. However, much can also be learned by more elementary statistical methods. In this discussion, we use principal components analysis, regression, and time series analysis, to reconstruct the temperature signal since 1400 based on tree rings data. A...

We have developed a new method for measuring the isotopic composition (δ18O and δD) of different types of bonded water (e.g., molecular water, hydroxyl) contained in hydrated minerals by coupling a thermal gravimeter (TG) and a cavity ringdown laser spectrometer (CRDS). The method involves precisely step-heating a mineral sample, allowing the separation of the different types of waters that are...

Emiliania huxleyi (E. huxleyi), the most abundant coccolithophorid, has served as a model system for environmental studies pertaining to global carbon cycling, oceanic sulfur bio-transformations, and paleoclimatology. It has also potential applications in material sciences and biomedical studies. E. huxleyi was selected by the Department of Energy in 1999 for genome sequencing, which was recent...

This chapter summarizes and updates the main Quaternary paleoclimatic and sea-level trends recorded in Venezuela, and provides a paleoenvironmental framework for studies addressing biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary topics. Venezuela has a number of localities that have provided paleoenvironmental sequences in the neotropical, circum-Caribbean domain, such as the Cariaco basin, Lake ...

This is an oft-repeated but patently false claim. Dr. Legates, who has no established expertise in the relevant field of paleoclimatology, indeed asserts that temperatures were warmer at this time. In fact, not only is that not the consensus of the paleoclimate research community, but just the opposite is believed to be true of global annual mean temperatures at this time. Paleoclimate experts ...

[1] For more than four decades, scientists have been trying to find an answer to one of the most fundamental questions in paleoclimatology, the “faint young Sun problem.” For the early Earth, models of stellar evolution predict a solar energy input to the climate system that is about 25% lower than today. This would result in a completely frozen world over the first 2 billion years in the histo...

The Sun has an obvious effect on climate since its radiation is the main energy source for the outer envelopes of our planet. Nevertheless, there is a long-standing controversy on whether solar variability can significantly generate climate change, and how this might occur. This is a crucial issue not only in the field of paleoclimatology, but also for predicting the future of the Earth's clima...