Describes the time series and patterns of climate change for North America from 1602 to 1963, which provide a basis for comparison with what can be reconstructed of climatic patterns in other parts of the world.

In response to a request from Congress, Surface Temperature Reconstructions for the Last 2,000 Years assesses the state of scientific efforts to reconstruct surface temperature records for Earth during approximately the last 2,000 years and the implications of these efforts for our understanding of global climate change. Because widespread, reliable temperature records are available only for the last 150 years, scientists estimate temperatures in the more distant past by analyzing "proxy evidence," which includes tree rings, corals, ocean and lake sediments, cave deposits, ice cores, boreholes, and glaciers. Starting in the late 1990s, scientists began using sophisticated methods to combine proxy evidence from many different locations in an effort to estimate surface temperature changes during the last few hundred to few thousand years. This book is an important resource in helping to understand the intricacies of global climate change.

A top priority in climate research is obtaining broad-extent and long-term data to support analyses of historical patterns and trends, and for model development and evaluation. Along with directly measured climate data from the present and recent past, it is important to obtain estimates of long past climate variations spanning multiple centuries and millennia. These longer time perspectives are needed for assessing the unusualness of recent climate changes, as well as for providing insight on the range, variation and overall dynamics of the climate system over time spans exceeding available records from instruments, such as rain gauges and thermometers. Tree rings have become increasingly valuable in providing this long-term information because extensive data networks have been developed in temperate and boreal zones of the Earth, and quantitative methods for analyzing these data have advanced. Tree rings are among the most useful paleoclimate information sources available because they provide a high degree of chronological accuracy, high replication, and extensive spatial coverage spanning recent centuries. With the expansion and extension of tree-ring data and analytical capacity new climatic insights from tree rings are being used in a variety of applications, including for interpretation of past changes in ecosystems and human societies. This volume presents an overview of the current state of dendroclimatology, its contributions over the last 30 years, and its future potential. The material included is useful not only to those who generate tree-ring records of past climate-dendroclimatologists, but also to users of their results-climatologists, hydrologists, ecologists and archeologists. ‘With the pressing climatic questions of the 21st century demanding a deeper understanding of the climate system and our impact upon it, this thoughtful volume comes at critical moment. It will be of fundamental importance in not only guiding researchers, but in educating scientists and the interested lay person on the both incredible power and potential pitfalls of reconstructing climate using tree-ring analysis.’, Glen M. MacDonald, UCLA Institute of the Environment, CA, USA ‘This is an up-to-date treatment of all branches of tree-ring science, by the world’s experts in the field, reminding us that tree rings are the most important source of proxy data on climate change. Should be read by all budding dendrochronology scientists.’, Alan Robock, Rutgers University, NJ, USA

A profound knowledge of the past climate is vital for our understanding of global warming. The past 2000 years are both the period which is of most relevance to the next century and that for which there is the most evidence. High-resolution proxy records for this period are available from a variety of sources. Five sections consider dendroclimatology, ice cores, corals, historical records, lake varves, and other indicators. The final two sections cover the histories of various forcing factors and attempt to bring together records from a variety of sources and provide explanations.

The quaternary sciences constitute a dynamic, multidisciplinary field of research that has been growing in scientific and societal importance in recent years. This branch of the Earth sciences links ancient prehistory to modern environments. Quaternary terrestrial sediments contain the fossil remains of existing species of flora and fauna, and their immediate predecessors. Quaternary science plays an integral part in such important issues for modern society as groundwater resources and contamination, sea level change, geologic hazards (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis), and soil erosion. With over 360 articles and 2,600 pages, many in full-color, the Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science provides broad ranging, up-to-date articles on all of the major topics in the field. Written by a team of leading experts and under the guidance of an international editorial board, the articles are at a level that allows undergraduate students to understand the material, while providing active researchers with the latest information in the field. Also available online via ScienceDirect (2006) – featuring extensive browsing, searching, and internal cross-referencing between articles in the work, plus dynamic linking to journal articles and abstract databases, making navigation flexible and easy. For more information, pricing options and availability visit www.info.sciencedirect.com. 360 individual articles written by prominent international authorities, encompassing all important aspects of quaternary science Each entry provides comprehensive, in-depth treatment of an overview topic and presented in a functional, clear and uniform layout Reference section provides guidence for further research on the topic Article text supported by full-color photos, drawings, tables, and other visual material Writing level is suited to both the expert and non-expert

This volume has grown from an Autumn School about "Analysis of Climat~ Variability - Applications of Statistical techniques" on Elba in November 1993. We have included those lectures which referred explicitly to appli cations of statistical techniques in climate science, since we felt that general descriptions of statistical methods, both at the introductory and at advanced level, are already available. We tried to stress the application side, discussing many examples dealing with the analysis of observed data and with the eval uation of model results (Parts I and II). Some effort is also devoted to the treatment of various techniques of pattern analysis (Part III). Methods like teleconnections, EOF, SSA, CCA and POP are becoming routine tools for the climate researcher and it is probably important for graduate students to be exposed to them early in their academic career in a hopefully clear and concise way. A short subject index is included at the end of the volume to assist the reader in the search of selected topics. Rather than attempting to reference every possible occurrence of some topic we have preferred to indicate the page where that topic is more extensively discussed. The Autumn School was part of the training and education activities of the European Programme on Climatology and Natural Hazards (EPOCH), and is continued under the subsequent research programme (ENVIRONMENT 1990-1994). It aimed at students in general, taking first and second year courses at the graduate level.