This project will develop proxy-based reconstructions of large-scale surface temperature patterns, atmospheric circulation, and continental drought over the past two millennia. The rationale behind the research is that quantitative comparison of reconstructions and simulations of climate over the past two millennia can provide an assessment of the extent to which natural and anthropogenic forcing can explain observed patterns of climatic change. The research builds upon promising results by the researcher in testing proxy network design strategies for climate field reconstruction using climate model simulation results.
The research addresses important issues with broad impact to the wider science community regarding the factors underlying past climate variability and the implications for understanding future change. These include an understanding the spatial and temporal details of past changes in the Earth's climate including the role of tropical Pacific ocean-atmosphere processes (e.g. El Nino Southern Oscillation), the Northern Annual Mode (NAM), and Southern Annular Mode (SAM) in explaining observed patterns of large-scale climate (e.g., surface temperature and atmospheric circulation) variability and change over the past two millennia.
