PAGES - Past Global Changes

C-SIDE special issue open

Details: Published: Wednesday, 22 July 2020 12:21

Submissions are now being accepted to the PAGES' Cycles of Sea-Ice Dynamics in the Earth system (C-SIDE) working group special issue of Climate of the Past.

"Reconstructing Southern Ocean sea-ice dynamics on glacial-to-historical timescales" will be edited by Karen Kohfeld, Xavier Crosta, Alice Marzocchi, Juliane Müller, Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz, and Laurie Menviel.

The deadline for submission is 31 December 2021, extendable if necessary.

Papers are invited on the topics of (a) new sea-ice reconstructions in the Southern Ocean using new and established proxies of changes in sea ice; (b) regional compilations of changes in sea-ice distributions during the last glacial–interglacial cycle; (c) studies comparing (new and published) sea-ice records with complementary records of changes in circulation, temperature, and nutrient or carbon cycling; and (d) model analysis and model–data comparison papers that provide insights into the key processes linking Southern Ocean sea-ice changes with ice sheet, atmosphere, and ocean dynamics, as well as biogeochemical cycling in the ocean.

Find out more here.

Images for PAGES' website

Details: Published: Thursday, 16 July 2020 17:03

Do you have photos you would like to share?

PAGES has started proceedings to redesign our website and would like to gather relevant high-resolution images from our community, whether it be in the field, the lab, or at a workshop.

If you own the rights and any identifiable people have given their permission, please send the photos, along with a short caption, by 31 July to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the subject line "PAGES website image contribution".

We look forward to seeing your contributions and thank you in advance for helping us create a new website.

Image: Ursilor Cave, Romania, 16 August 2019.
Credit: Harvey Weiss. Click image for high-res version (3.8MB).

Read the latest e-news

Details: Published: Wednesday, 15 July 2020 15:01

Read about the latest PAGES' news, meetings and opportunities from around the world in this month's e-news.

Highlights include registration and abstract submission now open for PAGES 6th Open Science Meeting and 4th Young Scientists Meeting, a call for images for PAGES' new website, extensive working group news including new products and meeting updates, deadlines for AGU 2020 and EGU 2021, deadlines for new PAGES working groups, workshop support applications, and the PAGES Early-Career Award, plus ECN, Future Earth and WCRP information, and many other relevant opportunities.

OSM/YSM registration open

Details: Published: Wednesday, 01 July 2020 12:41

PAGES is pleased to announce that abstract submission and registration is now open for the 6th Open Science Meeting (OSM) and 4th Young Scientists Meeting (YSM) in Agadir, Morocco, in May 2021.

The YSM will be held from 16-18 May, and the OSM from 18-22 May. Various fieldtrips start from 23 May.

Access the official website and register here.

Access the list of OSM sessions here.

The deadline for abstracts and financial support requests to attend the OSM is 1 October 2020. All details here.

The YSM registration process differs to the OSM. Early-career researchers must apply, and the 80 participants will be selected on the quality of the application and suitability. To apply for the YSM, you will be asked to submit an abstract and complete the application form. Funding is available for registration fees and travel support.

The deadline for application, abstract submission, and financial support requests to attend the YSM is 13 September 2020. All details here.

New GMST Sci Data paper

Details: Published: Tuesday, 30 June 2020 12:03

A major new compilation of pre-historic temperature records shows that global warming is reaching levels not seen for at least 6000 years.

Over the past 150 years, global warming has more than undone the global cooling that occurred over the past six millennia, according to a major study, "Holocene global mean surface temperature, a multi-method reconstruction approach", published in Nature Research’s Scientific Data today.

The study, led by PAGES Scientific Steering Committee member Darrell Kaufman, reconstructs global temperature over the Holocene. The global database on which the temperature reconstruction is based was compiled by an international group of paleoclimate scientists who came together in June 2019 in Switzerland for a PAGES-endorsed meeting. The methods used in the study build on those developed by several PAGES working groups.

Following the last major ice age, the Earth as a whole was warmest during the centuries around 6500 years ago. The global average temperature during this period was likely about 0.7°C higher than during the 1800s. Global warming since then has reached about 1°C.

Access the paper here.

Read the Nature comment piece by Harry Dowsett here.

Access a high-res version of the image here.

New Floods WG special issue

Details: Published: Monday, 29 June 2020 14:46

Floods Working Group (FWG) has released a Global and Planetary Change special issue as an outcome of their PAGES' 5th Open Science Meeting session in 2017.

Edited by Lothar Schulte, Daniel Schillereff, Juan Santisteban and Fabienne Marret-Davies, "Pluridisciplinary analysis and multi-archive reconstruction of paleofloods" contains 18 peer-reviewed papers covering various regions, including New Zealand, South America, Central Asia, Europe, and the UK.

"The study of past floods, from historical and natural archives, is challenging but offers unparalleled opportunities to document the frequency and magnitude of past floods, including rare, very large events, that occurred under a broad range of climate and/or environmental scenarios," said Professor Schulte.

Access the special issue here.

Find out more about FWG and sign up to its mailing list.

In May 2021, the group will hold the session "Towards an improved understanding of past flood variability and examples on how such data can have a bearing on present and future flood risk management" at PAGES' 6th Open Science Meeting in Agadir, Morocco. Abstract submission opens this Wednesday, 1 July 2020.

Okmok and ancient Rome

Details: Published: Tuesday, 23 June 2020 09:06

Members of PAGES' VICS working group have found evidence connecting an unexplained period of extreme cold in ancient Rome with a massive eruption of Alaska's Okmok volcano.

Around the time of Julius Caesar's death in 44 BCE, written sources describe a period of unusually cold climate, crop failures, famine, disease, and unrest in the Mediterranean Region – impacts that ultimately contributed to the downfall of the Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt.

Historians have long suspected a volcano to be the cause, but have been unable to pinpoint where or when such an eruption had occurred, or how severe it was.

In a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a research team of international scientists, led by Joe McConnell from the Desert Research Institute (DRI) in Reno, USA, used an analysis of tephra (volcanic ash) found in Arctic ice cores to link the period of cold in the Mediterranean with the eruption of Alaska's Okmok volcano in 43 BCE.

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