Climate Change: From Deep Past to the Present

Description

How can looking back in time at past climate changes help us to understand the climate challenges we face today and in the future? This course will take you on a journey through time, visiting fascinating and sometimes surprisingly different climates during our planet's history. It will introduce key concepts in the study of climate change during the geological past, known as palaeoclimate science, and how this can be used to better inform our understanding of both present climate and possible projections of future climate change. After a brief introduction to the approaches used in palaeoclimate science, we will look at various time periods from approximately the extinction event, which ended the dinosaurs, to the present day. The climate of each period will firstly be explored, before noting parallels with present and future climate. Towards the end of our journey through time, with the introduction of humanity, we will look at the influence of climate on human activities (and, equally importantly, human impacts on climate).