Table of historic and prehistoric climate indicators

This table is a reference tool for rapidly locating Wikipedia articles on Historic and Prehistoric climate indicators of all types.

Method Type Basis Interpret Instruments Back To
Varve Analysis Geological Annual bands of seasonally differing particle size in glacial lake deposits Samples carry Proxies. Thicker bands = warmer, wetter weather Visual and Microscope ca 13,000 yrs BP
Dendroclimatology Biological Annual bands of seasonally differing woody growth tissue in trees Thicker bands = warmer and/or wetter weather, although some studies found thinner trunks for higher temperatures [1] Visual and Microscope ca 10,000 yrs BP
Ice cores Geological Annual (or periodic) layers of differing ice crystals in glaciers and ice caps Samples carry Proxies. Thicker bands = snowier weather Chemical and Mass Spectrometer ca 800,000 yrs BP
Speleothems Geological Layers of seasonally differing stalagmite/stalactite deposits in limestone caves Samples carry Proxies. Thicker bands = warmer, wetter surface weather Visual and Microscope ca 500,000 yrs BP
Sun Spots Astronomical Number of spots visible on the surface of the Sun over various periods More spots = warmer weather cycles (this is controversial) Visual and Telescope 1700 AD
Oxygen Isotope Analysis, see marine isotope stage Geochemical Climate Proxy Ratio of Oxygen-18 to Oxygen-16 in calcite from deep sea sediment, and coral cores More Oxygen-18 = colder climatic periods Mass Spectrometer ca 542,000,000 yrs BP
Beryllium-10 Analysis Geochemical Climate Proxy Ratio of Beryllium-10 to daughter isotopes in dust from ice cores Produced in atmosphere by cosmic rays and absorbed into the hydrologic cycle. Level of Beryllium-10 has been shown to closely match recent solar activity measured by sun spots Mass Spectrometer ca 80,000 yrs BP

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References

  1. ^ http://treephys.oxfordjournals.org/content/30/6/669.full.pdf+html | "The median values for height, stem diameter and all biomass measurements at elevated growth temperatures were always near 1 for evergreens, indicating that for every study that found increased growth with warming, there were a similar number that found a decrease "