CICS Research Themes

Paleoclimate

The most valuable observational constraints that we have to test our understanding of the response of the Earth System to changes in forcing comes from the geological and ice core record. GFDL has a long history of important contributions to our understanding of climate change through the application of climate models. In recent years, Princeton University has attracted several faculty with active research programs in the empirical and theoretical analyses of paleoclimate. CICS is supporting research on critical issues in which Princeton has particular expertise that are likely to be of importance in determining future climate response. These include the changing response of the climate to solar insolation forcing, the cause of glacial/interglacial carbon dioxide changes, and significant climate trends that have occurred within the Holocene. These studies will be integrated with the climate model development described under the other three themes.

Ventilation age of the ocean at 1200 m (top panel) and 3000 m depth (bottom panel). Young (blue)
waters are present in all the polar regions of the upper ocean. At mid-depth the North Pacific
contains the oldest water (red). This experiment forms part of a set of runs, intended to test the
response of the polar ocean stratification to global cooling.