Rapid Climate Change: Holocene to Anthropocene (Spring 2005)
GEOL 4700-5 / 5700-8 - Rapid Climate Change Seminar
Marchitto's seminar courses (archived)
Most are Geological Sciences courses with titles like "Seminars in Paleoclimate". ÌýAsterisks* denote courses titled "Super-Problems in Quaternary Climate"
- CO2 and Milankovitch Mysteries (Spring 2024)
- Greenhouse Forcings and Feedbacks (Spring 2023)
- Past Climate Extremes (Spring 2022)
- Presenter's Choice (Spring 2021)
- Rapid Warming, Ocean Acidification, and Anoxia: Lessons from the Past (Spring 2019)
- Paleoclimate Landmarks and Heroes (Spring 2017)
- Paleoclimate Contributions to the 5th IPCC Report (Fall 2015)
- Glacial-Interglacial CO2* (Spring 2014)
- Glacial Ocean Circulation* (Spring 2010)
- Glacial-Interglacial CO2* (Fall 2008)
- Warm Periods of the Earth's Past (Spring 2007)
- Rapid Climate Change: Holocene to Anthropocene (Spring 2005)
- Recent Developments in Rapid Climate Change Research (Spring 2003)
Theory and observations increasingly point to significant human impacts on modern (and future) climate, particularly through modification of the atmosphere’s composition. Questions remain, however, surrounding the contribution of natural climate variability to recent changes. This course will examine current climate trends in the context of natural Holocene (past 11,500 years) variability. We will cover various modes of climate variability on interannual/decadal (e.g., El Niño-Southern Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation) to centennial/millennial (e.g., Medieval Warm Period, Little Ice Age) timescales. Current and emerging theories regarding forcing mechanisms, both natural and anthropogenic, will be discussed.
The course will be primarily conducted in seminar format, with detailed discussions of the current literature. Students will be required to make periodic presentations on assigned readings. A term project, in the form of an annotated bibliography on a relevant topic of the student’s choosing, will also be required.
(due May 2)
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Meets: Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:30-4:45, Benson Earth Sciences 355
Professor:, tom.marchitto@colorado.edu
Office Hours: By announcement and appointment, Benson 435 or 152
Grading: 40% Presentations, 30% Participation, 30% Project
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Pertinent questions to be addressed
Holocene paleoclimate
Does global climate experience natural oscillations at multi-decadal, centennial, or millennial timescales?
What are the main forcings of such natural variations?
How well are the histories of these forcings known?
How reliable are hemispheric reconstructions of climate over the past 1000 years?
How do the past few decades compare to the past 1000 years?
How skillful are computer models at simulating the climate of the past 1000 years?
Can these simulations tell us if recent warming is anthropogenic?
Ìý
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Class schedule (evolving)
T 1/11: Introduction and class outline
Th 1/13: Lecture: Climate primer
Ìý
Holocene paleoclimate
T 1/18: Holocene millennial-scale climate variability
(Tom)
Th 1/20: No class
T 1/25: Holocene solar cycles
(Maureen)
(Maureen)
Additional reading:
Th 1/27: Modeling Holocene natural forcing
(Ursula)
Additional reading:
T 2/1: Little Ice Age
(Patrick)
Additional reading:
Th 2/3: Lecture: El Niño-Southern Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation
NAO reading: Hurrell, Decadal trends in the North Atlantic Oscillation: Regional temperatures and precipitation, Science, 269: 676-679, 1995.
NAO reading: Hurrell, Influence of variations in extratropical wintertime teleconnections on Northern Hemisphere temperature, Journal of Geophysical Research, 23: 665-668, 1996.
T 2/8: NAO reconstructions
(Darren)
(Darren)
Additional reading:
Th 2/10: ENSO reconstructions
(Cynthia)
(Cynthia)
Additional reading: Mann et al., Volcanic and solar forcing of the tropical Pacific over the past 1000 years, Journal of Climate, in press, 2005.
T 2/15: US aridity reconstructions
(Benjamin)
(Benjamin)
Th 2/17: Regional/hemispheric/global temperature reconstructions (past 500-2000 yr)
(Kelly)
(Kelly)
Additional reading (long!):
Additional reading:
T 2/22: 1000-yr Northern Hemisphere temperature reconstruction: Preserving low frequencies I
(Saedis)
(Saedis)
Additional reading:
Th 2/24: 1000-yr Northern Hemisphere temperature reconstruction: Preserving low frequencies II
(Zack)
(Zack)
Additional reading:
T 3/1: No class
Th 3/3: Modeling Northern Hemisphere temperatures over past 1000 yr
(Darren)
(Darren)
Additional reading:
T 3/8: Paleo synopsis discussion
Ìý
Documenting recent climate change (instrumental)
Th 3/10: Land surface air temperatures (Patrick)
Read this like you read a paper, including links that seem useful. Printing the main webpage in landscape orientation will give 4 pages.
T 3/15: Ocean temperatures (Maureen)
Long, but parts can be skimmed.
Th 3/17: Tropospheric (and stratospheric) temperatures (Ursula)
See also and
Additional light reading on the stratosphere:
T 3/22 & Th 3/24: Spring Break
T 3/29: Melting ice and rising sea levels (Kelly)
See also:
Scary additional reading:
Th 3/31: Ecological shifts (Cynthia)
Additional reading:
Ìý
Attribution, feedbacks, and ancillary effects
T 4/5: Heat islands (Zack)
See also
Additional reading:
Th 4/7: Clouds (Saedis)
This paper is VERY long. Skip/skim over the technical parts if you like, but try to get the author's main points.
Additional reading, short News & Views:
Additional reading, if you're interested:
T 4/12: Earth's albedo (Benjamin)
Th 4/14: Reduced evaporation?
(Ursula)
(Benjamin)
T 4/19: Fate of anthropogenic CO2
(Cynthia)
(Kelly)
Additional reading:
Ìý
Predicting future climate change
Th 4/21: Heat waves and "committed" warming
(Darren)
(Patrick)
Additional reading:
T 4/26: Future simulation uncertainties
See also the . (Saedis)
(Zack)
Th 4/28: Synthesis discussion
Ìý
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Some interesting climate websites
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world's leading voice on anthropogenic change
US Government site dedicated to "integrating federal research on global change and climate change"
US Global Change Research Program's "gateway to global change data and information"
Oak Ridge National Laboratory database of CO2 and other climatic measurements
NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies compilations of global surface temperature data
Short-term climate forecasts by Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate Prediction
US Department of Energy site on climate change initiatives
International news stories and editorials about climate change
CU science policy blog
Climate change blog "to provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary"