NEWS OF THE INTERNATIONAL PALEOSCIENCE COMMUNITYA CORE PROJECT OF THE INTERNATIONAL GEOSPHERE-BIOSPHERE PROGRAMME IGBP

PAGES International Project Office, Bärenplatz 2, CH–3011 Bern, Switzerland - Tel: +41 31 312 31 33, Fax: +41 31 312 31 68, e-mail: pages@pages.unibe.ch, http://www.pages.unibe.chDirector: Bruno Messerli, Executive Director: Frank Oldfield, Science Officer: Keith Alverson, Office Manager: Niklaus Schranz

Vol.7, N°1March 1999

CO

NTE

NTS

One of the major themes in the present newsletter is lakes – both as part of the full range of continental aquatic sytems(pp 2–3) and as sources of sedimentary records (pp 12–16). These pictures illustrate different forms of lake coring onSwiss lakes (from left to right): on Soppensee with a piston corer from a drilling platform; on Bachalpsee with a gravitycorer; a freeze core with annually laminated sediments from Baldeggersee. For more information check the University ofBern’s Paleolimnology group homepage: http://www.cx.unibe.ch/sgi/paleolimnology.html (Photos: A.F. Lotter).

EDITORIAL

PAGES SynthesisOver the next two to three years, a major respon-sibility of the IGBP will be to produce a synthesisof the program achievements to date. PAGESplans both to develop its own project synthesisand to contribute to the IGBP-wide task.

The intention, within PAGES, is to produce abook in the IGBP series, as well as an executivesummary in the form of a glossy brochure, both tobe published early in 2001. The first steps havealready been taken. A draft outline of the themesaround which the summary brochure will be orga-nized has been the subject of an ongoing electronicdiscussion forum on the PAGES website and theformat of the book itself is beginning to take shape.The goal must be to create a thematically orientedsynthesis rather than a compilation of PAGES-re-lated research. This means that in its organization,the synthesis will transgress the Foci and Activitieslisted in the PAGES Implementation Plan, rather

than summarize in succession the research com-pleted within each of them. It will thus be comple-mentary to the more ‘bottom-up’ syntheses of in-dividual components of the PAGES project andwill not conflict with current and future initiativeslike the PEP I synthesis currently being coordi-nated by Vera Markgraf in the wake of the land-mark meeting in Merida last March. Nor will itreplicate the approach taken in compiling the spe-cial issue of Quaternary Science Reviews that willstand as a record of the oral presentations at thePAGES Open Science Meeting. The latest outlineof the synthesis themes is designed to set the pro-cess in motion with a small group of co-ordinators,rather than to prescribe the eventual structure ofthe book to be produced. The first meeting of asynthesis planning group was held in San Fran-cisco in December 1998. The themes identified bythe group as the basis for the next stage in PAGES

LAKES

1 Editorial PAGES Synthesis2 Program News Continental Aquatic Systems, PEP I, IMAGES, PEP III, ADVANCE 10K, PANGAEA

11 Obituary In Memory of Hans Oeschger12 Lakes Large Lake Records, LDTF, African Crater Lakes, ELDP17 Workshop Reports BIOME 600018 Announcements START Young Scientist Awards, PAGES Grants for Summer School, Inter-PEP Workshop19 Inside PAGES Changes in PAGES SSC, PAGES Workshop Support20 Last Page Calendar

2

CONTINENTAL AQUATIC SYSTEMS

A Proposed Integrative Inter-ProjectInititative on Continental Aquatic SystemsThe primary goal of this initiative, as de-fined in the document approved by theIGBP SC, is to understand the role of con-tinental aquatic systems in global bio-geochemical cycles. The overarchingquestion posed at the outset is: How havecontinental aquatic systems and the nu-trient fluxes associated with them beenand will be influenced by and responsiveto global change, over past, present, andfuture time frames? Continental aquaticsystems are defined as all surface andsubsurface water involved in the hydro-logic cycle on the continents. This in-cludes lakes, rivers, wetlands, soil mois-ture, and ground water from the pointwhere precipitation reaches the earth’ssurface until it reaches the sea in full ma-rine conditions, or until it reaches someother final base level. The “downstream”boundary is a broad zone variable inspace and time wherein river water inter-acts with the ocean before reaching fullymarine characteristics with respect tochemistry and ecology. The emphasis ofthe project will be on water, sediment,carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, silicon andmicro nutrients.

Past Biogeochemistry and PaleoecologyContinental aquatic systems are rich innatural archives of past biogeochemicalstates and fluxes. These take the form oflake, reservoir and near-shore marinesediments, ground waters and accumu-lated wetland sediments and peats.Analyses of such archives can provideinsight into both the past biogeochemis-try of the systems studied and of thechanging conditions of climate, vegeta-tion, soils and human land use to whichchanges in aquatic biogeochemistry arelinked. They can document the impact ofbiogeochemical changes on the natureand functioning of aquatic ecosystems inthe past. In addition, paleo-records canprovide information on the pristine stateof drainage basins which are now se-verely altered by human activity, andthus out of biogeochemical and ecologicalequilibrium.

Currently available evidence suggeststhat even in long-settled and highly de-veloped areas of the world, (e.g. WesternEurope), the main changes in aquatic bio-geochemistry have taken place within the

last 150 to 200 years, despite the fact thatagriculture, deforestation and local settle-ment began centuries and, in many cases,millennia before this. The main initialforcing factors seem to have been popula-tion growth, urbanization, industrial de-velopment and the construction of inte-grated sewer systems. Current forcingincreasingly reflects the impact of non-point agricultural sources for N and P. Itmay be that further evidence from long-settled areas, in Eurasia and the Medi-terranean region for example, will build acase for a more flexible time frame, butwe believe that the main focus should beon the last 200 years. This has the addedadvantage of being compatible with thetime frame prioritized by LUCC andGCTE for reconstructing past land coverand terrestrial ecosystems. Moreover,chronologies of sedimentation can oftenbe provided for most of this period, usingradiometric techniques such as 210Pb.There are also opportunities for quantita-tive calibration over this time interval,through comparison with direct observa-tions during the most recent period.

Recent research confirms that paleo-limnological studies can track past atmo-spheric contamination using the record ofmetal and fly ash deposition. The fossilrecord in the sediments can be used as abasis for reconstructing past water qual-ity, including changes in pH, with a highdegree of precision. It can also be used toreconstruct past P loadings to a reason-able level of approximation. More re-search is required to establish the degreeof confidence with which it may becomepossible to reconstruct past changes in Nand Si concentrations and fluxes fromsedimentary evidence. Records of pastparticulate inputs are often extremelywell preserved in and quantifiable fromthe sedimentary record and these are ofspecial importance where nutrient deliv-ery and sequestration are particle-associ-ated. At the same time, sediment studiesallow calculation of bulk catchmentyields and sediment source ascription inways that can be directly related to soiland terrestrial ecosystem processes, suchas accelerated erosion and deforestation.

Lake Sediments and Past ClimateThere is growing evidence to show thatpaleolimnological research can providerobust reconstructions of climate varia-

The Potential Role of PAGES in the IGBP Water InitiativeEditorial, continued from front page

synthesis, and the co-ordinators associ-ated with each theme are as follows:1. The human rationale for the study

of past environmental change(Oldfield).

2. The course of past climate change(Bradley).

3. Forcings and feedbacks operatingon the physical climate system(Stocker/Alverson).

4. Biogeochemical/biospheric aspectsand impacts of past global change(Boyle/Overpeck).

5. Future directions - this section willrequire input from all the others, aswell as from senior colleagues ex-ternal to the process. Jean-ClaudeDuplessy and Claude Lorius haveagreed to share this responsibility.

The timetable proposed follows on fromthe brief workshop at the Fall AGU at-tended by several of the initial co-ordinators and other members of thePAGES community who were on thespot. Sub-group meetings are plannedfor the first 4 months of 1999 to shapeand refine the contents of each section.The IGBP Congress in May 1999 willprovide an opportunity to collate, pre-sent and evaluate the outlines of thebook. At that stage, the shape and con-tent will be endorsed by the PAGES Sci-entific Steering Committee (SSC). Thenext stage will be the main phase of wri-ting, culminating in a final workshop totie the whole text together during 2000.Ideally, both the book and certainly theglossy Executive Summary bookletshould be available for the IGBP OpenScience Meeting planned for Spring2001. Towards the end of this period, weanticipate that the PAGES SSC will be-gin to review the status and future of thePAGES project as part of a broader re-view of IGBP as a whole.

The task of synthesis presents thePAGES community with a major chal-lenge; perhaps the most daunting oneyet. We shall try to keep the widerPAGES community abreast of the pro-cess through the newsletter and thewebsite and we welcome your views onthe scope, purpose and optimal out-come of the synthesis process.

FRANK OLDFIELD

Executive Director, PAGES IPO, Bern, Switzerlandoldfield@pages.unibe.ch

3

CONTINENTAL AQUATIC SYSTEMShuman use, glaciers and snow fields forman important part of the aquatic system.The response of these to recent climatechange and their vulnerability under con-ditions of predicted global warming is afurther area of concern into whichpaleodata can shed light.

Wetlands also contain paleo-recordsfrom which their role as biogeochemicalsinks and sources, both of nutrients andtrace gases can be reconstructed. Grow-ing acknowledgment of the importanceof wetlands in geochemical cycling andenvironmental management points to theneed to exploit these systems as archivesof recent changes in nutrient flux and se-questration rates.

SummaryIn summary, sedimentary and other pa-leorecords can help to quantify the role ofnatural variability and human impacts onbiogeochemical cycling in the continentalaquatic component of the earth system,on a catchment, regional and, potentially,a global scale. They can provide informa-tion on base-line conditions and realisticmanagement targets in amelioration pro-grams. In addition, they can put presentday observations, data sets and experi-ments in a realistic, dynamic context thatacknowledges the role of changing forc-ing mechanisms in the fluxes, stocks andconcentrations of at least some nutrients.In so doing, paleo-research also providesan essential tool in model developmentand validation.

The PAGES SSC has approved in prin-ciple the establishment of a new Activitywithin ‘Focus 3’ (Human Interactions inPast Environmental Changes). This Ac-tivity, to be led by Rick Battarbee, Univer-sity College London, has been entitled“human impact on lake ecosystems andthe role of palaeolimnology” (LIMPACS).One of the tasks for LIMPACS will be tolink with and contribute to the IGBP-wide ‘Water’ initiative and thereby en-sure that it serves the needs of bothPAGES and the IGBP community as awhole.

FRANK OLDFIELD

Executive Director, PAGES IPO, Bern, Switzerlandoldfield@pages.unibe.ch

The above report is a modified extract from the IGBPbriefing document on “Continental AquaticSystems”.

Geoff Seltzer, profes-sor of QuaternaryGeology and Geo-morphology, Dept.of Earth Sciences,Syracuse University, has taken over theleadership of the PEP I transect fromVera Markgraf. Geoff’s research focuseson the glacial and climatic history of theAndes of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.Specifically, he is developing high reso-lution (centennial to millennial scale)records of climate change for the lateQuaternary (last 20,000 years). The de-velopment of such proxy records pro-vides the primary means by which hy-potheses are generated and testedregarding the patterns and mechanismsfor global climate change during theQuaternary. Recent research projectsthat Geoff has been involved with in-clude: the history and climatic interpre-tation of glaciation in the BolivianAndes, the pollen stratigraphy of lakecores and its relevance to changes invegetation and climate, the physicalsedimentology of glacial lakes in thecentral Andes, relict ice deposits in sa-line lakes of southwestern Bolivia andtheir relevance to issues of regional cli-mate change and the Holocene record oflake level change in the Bolivian cordil-lera from cores of lacustrine sediments.His future research projects in theAndes include: high resolution glacialgeologic and palynologic studies of theEcuadorian and Peruvian Andes, thesedimentology of Lake Titicaca as a po-tential high-resolution and long-termclimate record from the tropics, the useof cosmogenic isotopes in surface dat-ing of moraines in the Bolivian Andesand stable isotope stratigraphy of marl-rich lakes in the Peruvian Andes. Geoffhas an exciting set of plans building onthe success of the recent PEP1 meetingon interhemispheric patterns of climatechange in the Americas (Merida, March1998) and complementing the ongoingPEP I synthesis project. His goals forPEP I will be the subject of a futurePAGES newsletter report.

KEITH ALVERSON

Science Officer, PAGES IPO, Bern, Switzerlandalverson@pages.unibe.ch

PA ESPAST GLOBAL CHANGES

bility and of the sensitivity of aquatic eco-systems to such variability. Since bothnatural variability, including extremeevents, and anthropogenic forcing willcontribute interactively and in as yet un-known proportions to future climatechanges, it is important to understand thelinks between natural climate variabilityand aquatic ecosystem response. For this,a longer time scale than the last 200 yearswill be needed. Case studies spanning thelast 1000 to 6000 years are therefore envis-aged and these will also have the advan-tage of including the time frame of directinterest to the PAGES Focus 3 initiative onthe Human Impact on Fluvial Systemssince the beginning of Agriculture (LU-CIFS – see PAGES Newsletter 98–1). Theinformation generated by these studieswill provide a more realistic view of pre-industrial base-line conditions and of thesensitivity of aquatic systems to the tem-poral pattern of natural variability.

High resolution, near-shore marinesediments with a major terrigenous com-ponent can provide paleorecords broadlycomparable to those available throughlake sediment studies. In addition, theycan be used to document the impact ofchanging sediment and biogeochemicalfluxes on marine and coastal ecosystems.

Ground Water, Mountains and WetlandsGround water forms a major human re-source. Under favorable conditions,ground waters (unsaturated zone as wellas saturated zone environments) mayalso act as an archive of climatic and en-vironmental change. This information isobtained from conservative chemical spe-cies, noble gas ratios and isotopic signa-tures. This archive is the only other indi-cator, apart form ice cores, which maystore water directly from former times.The ground water archive not only helpsto quantify source contributions, groundwater age, recharge rates and the futureconsequences of abstractions, but also hu-man impacts from diffuse and pointsource contamination. Currently avail-able research methods include the toolsfor understanding the fluxes of nutrientsand contaminants between surface andground waters, the role of ground watersas both sources and sinks and the futureconsequences of present and projectedlevels of exploitation.

In many upland areas and in regionsdependent on the capacity of the world’smountains to store and deliver water for

PEP I

New Leader

4

IMAGES

Russian paleoceanographic researchlinked to IMAGES is coordinated at theShirshov Institute of Oceanology (SIO),Russian Academy of Sciences in Mos-cow. The team includes Drs. M. Levitan(the official Russian representative toIMAGES), E. Ivanova, and I. Murdmaa.About 10 scientists are investigatingIMAGES related questions both at theSIO as well as its Atlantic (Kaliningrad)department. In addition, the followinginstitutes are also involved: Pacific Insti-tute of Oceanology Far East Branch inVladivostok, (Dr. S. Gorbarenko); Mos-cow State University (Drs. Y. Polyakovaand S. Nikolaev); Institute of the Litho-sphere in Moscow (Dr. O. Naidina); andMurmansk Institute of Marine Biology(Dr. G. Matishov).

Russian paleoceanographic activi-ties during 1997/1998 were mainly con-centrated in two regions: the Arctic andFar-East seas. Four cruises of the R.V.Akademik Sergei Vavilov (SIO) were car-ried out in the Barents (Cruises 11, 13,and 14) and Norwegian (Cruise 12)Seas. The programs of these cruises in-cluded studies of present and past ther-mohaline circulation in the region, aswell as faunal and sedimentological re-sponses to Late Quaternary climaticchanges. Altogether 37 gravity cores, upto 6 m long, were collected and sampledfor paleoceanographic studies (includ-ing lithology, geochemistry, micro-paleontology, mineralogy and isotopy).Paleomagnetic study of selected coresfrom the Barents Sea was carried outduring Cruise 14 by specialists from theAll-Russian Research Institute of OceanGeology (VNII Okeangeologiya, St.-Pe-tersburg) and the All-Russian Instituteof Geology (VSEGEI, St.-Petersburg).Most of the cores from the Barents Searecovered sedimentary records of theHolocene and last deglaciation. Thematerials collected are now the subjectof geochemical, micropaleontological,and sedimentological studies being un-dertaken at the Shirshov Institute ofOceanology. The results will be used toreconstruct paleoenvironments, in par-ticular Atlantic water inflow into theregion during postglacial time.

Detailed investigations of the historyof the Laptev Sea and eastern Siberianriver discharges since the Last GlacialMaximum were performed by research-

ers from the Institute of the Lithosphereand Moscow State University as part ofa joint Russian-German project on theexploration of the climatic system of theLaptev Sea. High-resolution paleoceano-graphic data from the Sea of Okhotskwere recently obtained by scientists fromthe Pacific Institute of Oceanology in co-operation with colleagues from theShirshiov Institute of Oceanology andthe USA.

Preliminary results of this Arctic re-search were published in the abstractvolumes of two meetings “Quaternaryproblems and perspectives for the nextcentury” (St.-Petersburg, September,1998) and “Marine Periglacial and Gla-ciation of the Barents-Kara Sea shelf inthe Pleistocene” (Murmansk, November,1998). In addition, during the last yearRussian paleoceanographers discussedtheir work at the International School onMarine Geology (Moscow, October,1997), at two sections of the 6th Zonen-shain Memorial Conference (Moscow,February, 1998) and at the 6th Interna-tional Conference on Paleoceanography(Lisbon, August 1998).

Several Russian scientists involvedin IMAGES participate in internationalco-operative projects with German(project KOMEX), French (“The Arcticseas influence on thermohaline circula-tion in the North Atlantic”), Norwegian(Arctic paleoceanography) and Ameri-can (sea-surface temperature reconstruc-tions in the Western Equatorial Pacificand Sea of Okhotsk studies) colleagues.

Russian IMAGES activities during 1997 and 1998

R.V. Akademik Sergei Vavilov

Since 1993, Siberian scientists fromthe Limnological Institute, SiberianBranch in Irkutsk, led by Dr. M. Grachevhave played a very active role in theInternational Baikal Drilling Project.The results obtained to date include adetailed climatic record of the last250,000 years, based on micropaleonto-logical, mineralogical, geochemical andpaleomagnetic studies in the upper 50m of the sediment sequence. The cli-matic oscillations revealed are compa-rable with those in marine records.

Looking to the future, in 1999, Rus-sian paleoceanographers will host aninternational workshop (co-funded byIMAGES) to discuss the problems andperspectives involved in correlatinghigh-resolution records from the Arcticand Far East seas.

ELENA IVANOVA AND IVAR MURDMAA

Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy ofSciences, Moscow, Russiaeivanova@geo.sio.rssi.rumurdma@chip.sio.rssi.ru

All PAGES–Publications areavailable both as hardcopy andin electronic form from:http://www.pages.unibe.ch/publications/publications.html

5

PEP III

PAGES and the PanAfrican START Secre-tariat (PASS) notedduring the recentlyheld IGBP SAC VMeeting in Nairobi,Kenya from September 1–7, 1998, thatthere is a wealth of paleoscience activi-ties in Africa being carried out by Afri-can scientists.

This work is somewhat invisible toother researchers both in Africa and in-ternationally. We would, therefore, liketo conduct a survey of who is doingwhat and where, in order to strengtheninformation exchange and foster newcollaborative links internationally. Thisinformation will be retained on a data-base, mounted on the PAGES Website,and published in the PASS Newsletter,which is circulated internationally.

We are requesting the PAGES com-munity world wide to inform us aboutexisting African paleoenvironmental re-search projects using the form on thispage. Please return it to the address in-dicated on the form (by post, email orfax), as soon as possible, so that we cancollate and distribute this informationin early 1999.

The form is also available in anonline-version at the PAGES Website:http://www.pages.unibe.ch/activities/africaform.html.

ERIC O. ODADA

Programme Director, Pan-African START Secretariat,University of Nairobi, Kenyapagesnbo@form-net.com

INVENTORY OF AFRICAN PALEO-SCIENCE RESEARCHERS

Surname: First Name:

Initials: Title:

Office Home

Address: Address:

Telephone: Telephone:

Facsimile: Facsimile:

Telex:

Email:

Current Employment Position:

Academic Qualifications:

Higher Degree: Institution: Subject(s): Year:

Area of Interest (Geographical): Area of Interest (Topical):

Current Research Activities/Projects:

Recent Publications (from 1993 to Present):

You may attach more detailed information on research activities/projects and recentpublications and return the form to:

Pan-African START Secretariat (PASS)c/o Department of Geology, University of Nairobi

P O Box 30197Nairobi, KENYA

Telephone: (+254-2) 447 740Facsimile: (+254-2) 449 539

Email: pagesnbo@form-net.com

PA ESPAST GLOBAL CHANGES

PAGES Newsletter 99–1

Editors: Frank Oldfield and Keith Alverson

Layout: Niklaus Schranz

Circulation: 2500

Printed on recycled paper

AfricanInventory

6

Examples of long sub-fossil ring-width chronologies presently under construction: these arefrom northern Sweden (Tornetrask) and Russia (Taimyr). The temperature-indicative data areexpressed here as standardised anomalies from the 2000-year mean, smoothed to emphasisedecadal and longer timescale variability.

DENDROCHRONOLOGY

Analysis of Dendrochronological Variability and Associated NaturalClimates in Eurasia – the last 10,000 years (ADVANCE–10K)

Over recent years, with support fromthe European Union’s Climate and En-vironment Programme and the SwissNational Science Foundation, AD-VANCE–10K has brought togethersome 30 collaborators from 17 institu-tions, located in 10 European countries.All of these workers share the commongoals of gathering, screening, and ar-chiving a mass of primarily Eurasiantree-ring measurements. The ultimateaim is to interpret these data in terms ofannually-resolved climate variability;on spatial scales that range from local tonear hemispheric and on temporalscales extending over a few hundred tomany thousands of years.

One major focus of the project is thecontinuing development of an extensivenetwork of ‘modern’ tree-core samples,all taken from relatively cool and moistsites, spread around the northern hemi-sphere, generally at latitudes above60°N, or at higher elevations in moresoutherly areas. The sites are selectedbecause of the likely sensitivity of localtree growth to climate, specifically tem-perature, variability. To date, multipletree-core collections have been madefrom some 400 sites and the samplesprocessed under the guidance of Fritz

Schweingruber at the Swiss Federal In-stitute for Forest, Snow and LandscapeResearch in Birmensdorf, Switzerland,to produce not only ring-width data,but also measurements of intra-annualring-density. These have enabled firmlydated width and density chronologiesto be built with annual resolution foreach location, typically spanning 300–400 years.

These chronologies are capable ofrepresenting detailed patterns of year-by-year temperature anomalies acrosslarge areas of the northern continents.Linear transfer functions that relate pat-terns of recent instrumentally observedsummer temperatures to those recordedin the contemporary tree-ring data,provide quantitative temperature esti-mates, the accuracy of which is demon-strated by comparison with early inde-pendent temperature records. Thetree-ring network is currently beingused to reconstruct a multi-century his-tory of summer temperature changesacross northern North America, Europeand, most recently, northern Russia.Though the present sample network ex-tends over the whole of northern Sibe-ria, the greatest concentration of sitesand the best temperature reconstruc-

tions come from the region between theFinnish border and the Ural Mountains.There presently remains vast scope forexpanding and improving the Russiandensitometric database and the pros-pects for a rapid acceleration of thiswork have been boosted recently by theestablishment of a new tree-ring densi-tometry facility, the first in Russia, at theInstitute of Forest, Krasnoyarsk, madepossible through the support of the Eu-ropean INTAS scheme.

Besides reconstructing maps of tem-perature variability, it has also been pos-sible to provide a useful indication ofvery large scale mean temperaturechanges over the last 600 years by aver-aging the tree-ring density chronologiesacross the entire network. The resultingseries provides strong evidence of theeffect of different known volcanic erup-tions, such as in 1453 (Kuwae, 1452);1601 (Huaynaputina, 1600); 1642 (Mt.Parker, 1641) and 1816 and 1817(Tambora, 1815) on Northern Hemi-sphere mean temperature. The data alsosuggest dates for probable, but as yetunattributed, large eruptions, such asthat in 1695.

At a handful of high-latitude loca-tions in northwest Sweden, northernFinland and on the Yamal and Taimyrpeninsulas, Russia, ADVANCE–10K isworking toward the construction ofcontinuous ring-width chronologiesthat will provide unique regional evi-dence of annual, decadal and centurytimescale temperature changes, all

Location of tree-ringdensity chronologies

Tornetrask

0 500 1000 1500Year (A.D.)

-2

-1

0

1

2

No

rmal

ised

an

om

aly

Taimyr

0 500 1000 1500Year (A.D.)

-2

-1

0

1

2

No

rmal

ised

an

om

aly

The present ADVANCE-10K tree-ring densitynetwork. The red circles show the locations ofthe long sub-fossil chronologies.

7

DENDROCHRONOLOGY

1810

1813

1816

1809

1812

1815

1818

1819

1811

1814

1817

1820

Normalised density anomaly

-6 2-3 10.5-0.5-1-2-4 0

Tree-ring density anomaly maps indicating areas of relatively warm and cool summers during the early 19th century. Over the hemisphere as awhole, 1810–1820 was one of the coolest decades of the millennium, in part due to the effects of large explosive volcanic eruptions in 1809 (knownthrough ice acidity) and 1815.

8

DENDROCHRONOLOGYfirmly dated to the exact year overmany thousands of years. These arelong-term projects, which ultimatelydepend on locating sufficient suitablesub-fossil wood samples whose agesspan all periods of the full record. Con-tinuous chronologies have been con-structed for the last 2000 years at all lo-cations. In Sweden and Finland, almostall of the preceding 5000 years is alsocomplete, although a firm chronologicallink across the 3rd and 4th centuries B.C.is still to be established. In Yamal, the‘modern’ continuous chronology ex-tends over 4 millennia and much earliermaterial, as in Taimyr, is either alreadymeasured or awaits processing. Thepotential to produce 7000 to 8000-yearlong series at all of these locations willbe realized in the near future.

Further south, in central Europe, theproject has brought together manythousands of oak ring-width series fromhistorical, archaeological or sub-fossilorigins that were previously dispersedin different dendrochronology laborato-ries in Sweden, Holland, Denmark, theUnited Kingdom, Germany and Poland.Several new regional 8000-year longchronologies have been constructedusing objective clustering techniques.Temporal variability in the strength ofinterregional associations shown inthese series, as well as detailed analysisof the extent of climate control of thechronology variability are underway.

Important work comparing tree-ringdata collections located in Hohenheimand Göttingen has recently produced acorrected and extended absolutely-dated oak series reaching back morethan 10,000 years – the longest in theworld – allowing an extension and revi-sion of previous radiocarbon calibrationcurves.

Different phases of active oak germi-nation and deposition throughout theHolocene have been identified in land-grown and bog contexts. There is alsoother evidence for the existence of no-table environmental events such as apronounced decrease in oak growth inthe middle 6th century A.D. that may belinked to very cool conditions seen in thehigh-northern trees in A.D. 536. Anotherlow oak growth period lasted for about100 years between 6270 and 6040 B.C.,corresponding with the oxygen isotopeevidence for contemporaneous cold inGreenland and Antarctic ice cores.

In the immediate future, work willcontinue on important statistical issuesrelated to the processing and interpreta-tion of all of the various tree-ring collec-tions. Potential anthropogenic influ-ences on recent tree growth will becomean increasingly important focus of thework. Increased tree productivity dur-ing the 19th and early 20th centuries andpost-1950 declines in tree density trendshave recently been identified in ourdata. The extent, detail and implicationsof these phenomena have yet to be fur-ther explored. Chronology confidenceand the expression of climate forcing aremost strongly expressed on short (an-nual to century) timescales. New dataprocessing techniques are exploring thereconstruction of longer period variabil-ity. This will require the extraction ofcommon long-term growth trends frommuch larger regional data collectionsthan are currently available. The precisereconstruction of tree line movementswill become increasingly feasible andthe potential for comparison and recon-ciliation with other long-term, thoughless well resolved, climate proxies ex-tracted from ice, lake sediments,speleothems, or peat will become in-creasingly practical and important. Thismultiproxy work should contribute use-fully to the aims of PAGES PEP III re-search as well as CAPE and PEP II.

Increased collaboration with, andsupport for, our Russian colleagueswould enable a vital extension of thework in central and eastern Siberia. Fur-thermore, the development of North/South transects of tree-ring data in cen-tral Siberia and Scandinavia would en-hance the work of the IGBP terrestrial

1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900Year

-6

-4

-2

0

2

No

rmal

ised

mea

n d

ensi

ty a

no

mal

y (

stan

dar

d d

evia

tio

n u

nit

s)

1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900

Major volcanoes:

Tree-ring density / Northern Boreal Forest

1448

1453

1495 1544 1587

1601

1641/2/3

16661675

1695

1698/9 17401783

1816/7/8

1836/7 18841912

? ? ?VE

I

7

6

5

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0.0

0.2

transects. Future work could also use-fully incorporate active participation ofworkers engaged in ongoing work inthe Himalayas as well as establish a firmtree-ring chronology in central Europeextending back into the Younger Dryas,some 12,000 years ago. Finally, bettercollaboration with other, including non-European, dendroclimatologists andthose synthesizing paleodata across thewhole of the high-latitude and high-elevation regions will continue to besought.

A special issue of The Holocene, de-tailing the results of ADVANCE–10K, isscheduled for publication in late 1999.All of the primary data collected underthis project, along with the regionalchronologies and associated derivedreconstructions will be made availablethrough the World Data Center-A forPaleoclimatology.

For details of the aims, participants,publications or other information relat-ing to ADVANCE–10K contact the au-thor or visit our web site. ADVANCE–10K is funded by the European Unionunder ENV4-CT95-0127: Scientific Of-ficer Ib Troen.

KEITH BRIFFA

School of Environmental Sciences, University of EastAnglia, Norwich, UKk.briffa@uea.ac.ukhttp://www.cru.ac.uk/cru/research/

Averaging temperature-sensitive chronologies from around the hemisphere provides a preciserecord of interannual temperature variability demonstrating a clear link between cool summersand large explosive volcanic eruptions.

9

PALEODATA

PANGAEA - Network for Geological and Environmental Data

Figure 1: The hierarchy in the PANGAEAdata model mirrors the path from the samplingin projects to the published data.

In 1993, scientists from various Germanresearch institutes working in the fieldof paleoclimatology initiated a project toimplement a common information sys-tem which guarantees longtime storageof data in consistent formats andprovides access for the scientific com-munity. Based on the discussion andrecommendations of this group, the in-formation system PANGAEA was de-veloped which is now operated by theAlfred Wegener Institute for Polar andMarine Research (AWI) and the Centerfor Marine Environmental Sciences(MARUM).

The system is able to store any typeof data with related descriptions. Due toits importance for marine geologicalwork, it is also able to give informationabout the availability of sampling mate-rial. The system has standardized im-port/export routines, access with uni-form retrieval functions and tools forthe visualization of data. The system isdesigned as a network using client/server technology with access and dataexchange through the Internet.

The emergence of an integratedearth systems science also calls for a fullknowledge of past conditions, and fordata sets that are drawn as compositesfrom different methods, techniques andarchives of paleoclimate. The majorchallenge of PANGAEA in this effort isnot only to have the data archived andaccessible but to allow retrieval and ex-traction of individual parts from a com-prehensive data collection.

Keeping the complexity of paleo-climate data in mind, the resulting sys-tem still needs flexible access tools withhigh functionality. Thus users of PAN-GAEA need to go through a short tuto-rial to learn the principles of the datamodel and the retrieval process. Due tothe simplified data model and the uni-form tools on all tables, the system iseasy to use once the principles are un-derstood.

In the PANGAEA standard retrieval(http://www.pangaea.de/retrieval) the fullfunctionality of the system is realized.To fulfill the requirements of a morespecific data access, individual retrievaltools can easily be designed due to thegeneric structure of the software. As anexample the user may try the interfacePanCore which was created to obtain

information about available sedimentsamples/cores in international reposito-ries. A similar interface for a search topublished data sets using an author ’sname or a keyword is in preparation.

The further possibility for retrievingdata from PANGAEA is the directdownload interface. Using the standardretrieval a data curator can save re-trieval information on his local webserver. A click on a link to this informa-tion included in a web page starts theretrieval and provides the requesteddata set as a tab-delimited text file (e.g.http://www.pangaea.de/projects/SFB261/,click on ‘data’ in the reference of MüllerP. et al, 1994).

The data modelThe simplified data structure of

PANGAEA is shown as a graphic on theopening screen of the client software(Fig. 1). The graphic allows the user di-rectly to access all tables. The structuremirrors the processing steps for scien-tific data in general. In projects (PRO-JECT) cruises are carried out for sam-pling or measurements (CAMPAIGN).During a cruise at a number of locations(SITE) different samples may be takenor measurements are made (EVENT).At distinct points/intervals the mediumto be investigated (e.g. sediment, ice orcoral) is sub sampled or measured(SAMPLE). From the investigation ofeach sample parameter specific valueswill result (DATA). Data can be re-trieved and exported in any combina-tion together with meta-data in an indi-vidually configured table.

Data handlingThe meta-data comprises related infor-mation about cruises, sampling sites/sets and storage facilities. The most im-portant meta-data are the location (lati-tude/longitude) and the elevation of anevent. Scientists and institutes related todata sets are stored with their full ad-dresses. Other related items, such as thenames of ships, gear or sample types,are defined in lists which can be up-dated at any time. The parameter list isorganized in groups and consists ofabout 5000 definitions used in marineand paleoclimate research. Referencesfor cruise reports or published data canbe typed in or imported from profes-sional bibliography software.

The import of meta-data is orga-nized through predefined forms whichare available for the import of refer-ences, campaigns and sites/events.Analytical data are imported via tab-delimited text with the parameternames or the PANGAEA-ID in theheader of the input matrix. Meta-infor-mation related to the data (method,owner, comments) has to be definedprior to the import, the relations aremade during the import process.

To improve the data consistency,data sets can be stored at differentlevels of processing. The primary data(e.g. counts of a microfossil assemblageor weights of granulometric investiga-tions) are the raw data for calculationsand interpretations. Archiving the rawdata allows future recalibration or inter-pretations. The secondary data are thosevalues calculated from the raw data,and in many cases are given as percent-ages or other units of concentration. Pa-rameters evaluated from the secondarydata (e.g. by statistical methods) are de-fined as tertiary data (e.g. paleotempe-rature).

10

In Memory ofHans Oeschger

Hans Oeschger, one of the founding fathers ofPAGES died on December 25, 1998. His role inthe establishment and promotion of PAGESdrew on both his distinction as a scientist andhis commitment as a person. His passing hasevoked many tributes in both national and in-ternational media. His distinguished career,culminating in the award of both the Tyler andthe Revelle prizes, is described more fully andwith great insight and affection in these ac-counts and they reinforce the immensely highstanding he had among his peers. Here, we havetried to bring a specifically PAGES dimensionto our commemoration by inviting two of hisclose associates during the development of theproject to give their personal recollections. Thefirst of these is Jack Eddy, who worked along-side Hans in the early planning stages:

Hans was one of several proponents fora paleostudies component in the initial ar-chitecture of ICSU’s International Geo-sphere-Biosphere Program, and with thatgoal in mind he accepted membership onthe first Scientific Committee for the IGBPin 1985/86. Based on his own early work,and that of his colleagues at the PhysicalInstitute that he directed in Bern, he recog-nized the valuable role paleoclimate infor-mation could play in clarifying some of themain issues that then clouded conjecturesregarding the enhanced greenhouse effect.He was also concerned that projects of theWCRP had put so little emphasis, or trust,in paleoclimate data. Hans helped identifycandidates who might serve on the initialsteering committee for what came to beknown as the IGBP Past Global Changes(PAGES) project. He hosted the early meet-ings in Bern and served as its co-chairman.

Members of the IGBP Working Groupon Global Changes of the Past, and later ofthe PAGES Steering Committee, favoredexpanding the concept beyond Hans’ ini-tial thoughts regarding greenhouse warm-ing and isotope chemistry. With these otherinsights the PAGES concept was broad-ened to embrace many different disci-plines; to include Holocene as well thesomewhat longer time scales of the last gla-ciations; to utilize PAGES as a vehicle to co-ordinate the efforts of disparate (and some-times competing) factions in paleoscience;and to open up and centralize paleo datasources around the world as a way ofachieving this kind of needed organizationand synthesis.

Figure 2: The PANGAEA network uses client/server technology through the Intranet/Internet to communicate and distribute databetween institutes.

PALEODATA

The retrieval tool for finding andextracting data from the system is uni-formly designed for all levels and al-lows the use of complex combinablesearch criteria. Data can be exported astables or plotted with one of the visual-ization tools. Tables can be sorted andconfigured individually. Multiple datasets can either be displayed with iden-tical parameters and locations in onecolumn, or the data can be split by loca-tions and/or different versions of datasets into separate columns, thus allow-ing the direct comparison of data setsfrom different investigations or loca-tions.

When dealing with the archivingand publication of data, copyright hasto be considered. If an information sys-tem also stores unpublished data, it iscrucial for the acceptance and the trustof the database that the data can be pro-tected. In PANGAEA the owner of aspecific data set is able to define accessrights for individual users or groups.

Technical setupPANGAEA uses client/server technol-ogy through the Internet with a mainserver (SUN E10000, 8 processors, 8GBinternal memory, 100GB hard disk ca-pacity) running SYBASE as the databasemanagement software. The client soft-

ware for import/export, written in 4th

Dimension (4D), runs on the operatingsystems MacOS and Windows. The 4Dclients are used by the data curators forproject data management (http://www.pangaea.de/projects/) and for theimport of data from different institu-tions participating in the network. Theclient software to be used on the WorldWide Web is written as a Java appletand allows read only access on pub-lished data for anyone. Registered userscan also share unpublished data. Theapplet includes a draft map and plotfunctionality for quick overviews. Dueto the use of Java applets, users of theweb client should use recent browsersoftware versions. Non-Java interfacesare in preparation.

External toolsFor the geographical presentation ofdata the PANGAEA tool PanMap wasdeveloped as a stand-alone mappingapplication for vector data (http://www.pangaea.de/software/). PanMap canbe used to draw sampling sites withmeta-data or analytical data in a geo-graphical context. Maps can be config-ured with different projections, thestyles of map elements can be changed,additional vector data or site informa-tion can be imported and managed indifferent layers, and graphics can be ex-ported. The General Bathymetric Chartof the Oceans (GEBCO) is provided as abathymetric data source.

The PANGAEA tool PanPlot enablesthe user to plot data versus depth/alti-tude or time. Scales and graphic fea-tures can be modified by the user anddistinct parameters can be selected froma data matrix. PanPlot and PanMap canbe directly accessed by the 4D clients.When using the Java web client, datahave to be downloaded to the PC firstand the visualization software then hasto be started by the user. PanMap andPanPlot are freeware.

MICHAEL DIEPENBROEK

Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM,Bremen University, Germanymdiepenbroek@pangaea.de

HANNES GROBE

Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and MarineResearch, Bremerhaven, Germanyhgrobe@pangaea.dehttp://www.pangaea.de

11

Once these and other goals were de-fined and agreed upon, there were monthsand years of writing and convincing to bedone, funds to be raised, meetings to berun, and battles to be won before PAGESwas accepted as a workable core project ofthe IGBP. In these early labors, however, asin the initial work of project concept anddefinition, Hans was involved only pe-ripherally, for by nature and personal incli-nation his principal interests and contribu-tions were on quite another scientificplane.

The period of the initial conception anddefinition of the PAGES project – the earlySpring of an effort that is now mature –found Hans in the late Autumn of his owncareer at the University of Bern, and at astage when the long shadow of his earlieryears of work in isotope chemistry waswell recognized around the world. The lus-tre of his early work in ice-core studies wasof undeniable help in launching thePAGES project. Indeed, it was his heart andname, more than his time or the work ofhis hands, that Hans principally contrib-uted, first to the IGBP and then to thePAGES project.

Hans readily accepted the suggestionof a joint Swiss/US-sponsored PAGESCore Project Office in Bern, which was agift he gave of yet another kind, made in-valuable by the eminence of Swiss studiesof tree-rings and varves and ice cores, aswell as the reputation of the laboratory thathe had directed in Bern. His name andreputation were also a help in the effortsneeded to secure the initial commitmentsfrom the US and the Swiss National Sci-ence Foundations to support the work ofthe new project office, and on his retire-ment from the faculty of the University ofBern, Hans devoted much of his time to itsendeavors.

Once the PAGES project was established,its further progress owed a great deal to thefruitful interaction between Hans and HermanZimmerman, whose recollections of him thusform a natural sequel to the above:

My first contact with PAGES came atthe second meeting of the PAGES ScientificSteering Committee in Bern (April, 1992).Prior to this, Hans and I had some minorinteraction concerning the initiation of theGRIP and GISP2 projects in Greenland, butnow we had committed to working closelytogether in developing the framework ofthe PAGES Project and in establishing theproject office in Bern. Hans and Jack Eddyco-chaired that meeting of the PAGES SSC

and much of the future structure of theproject was outlined there. By that time,Hans and Jack had already completed theorganizational spadework for the PAGESoffice. PAGES had been accepted as a coreproject of the IGBP and proposals to theSwiss and US National Science Founda-tions were already submitted. Discussionswere well underway about the funding ar-rangements and other details for the estab-lishment of the PAGES office.

When Jack Eddy found that he couldnot actually participate as co-director inBern, my role crystallized as “the organiza-tional person” to help develop the office’soperational procedures, and organize theinternational paleoscience community’slinkage to the global change effort. Hansand I often mused over lunch as to how ourpersonalities meshed and were well suitedto our separate roles within the PAGESworld and how surprisingly well weworked together. Hans was the tirelessPAGES’ safety net. When help was neededwith the funding agencies, the researchcommunity, or the international planninggroups, Hans was there on an airplane, orwriting letters and articles. He was thegreat ambassador for global climate re-search, for the paleosciences, for the appli-cation of isotopic techniques – his speciallove. After retiring from his professoralpositions at the University of Bern, he de-voted his full energies to promoting climatestudies in general, and PAGES in particular.

Hans and I were closest when therewas an editing chore to be done. He wrotewith a Swiss accent, but his work also hada distinctive style and flare. We spent longhours editing out the accent, but keepingthe flare. The term “climate surprise” camefrom Hans’ not being able to find quite thecorrect phrase in English, but we left it, be-cause it actually described just the rightthought – the abrupt, short-lived, climatechanges of the glacial stages that had beenunexpectedly found in the ice core recordsfrom Greenland.

Hans delighted in a fine meal at a fa-vorite Bernese restaurant, and there weremany of these. He delighted in explainingthe ‘typische’ Bernese cuisine – even when,having to translate for me, the correct wordin English eluded him. One can imaginethe topics of discussion: from isotopes inprecipitation, to the climate record teasedfrom tree-rings and ice cores, and to hisdispleasure – indeed anger, with the few“scientists” who nay-sayed the importanceof the greenhouse gas problem or his exas-

OBITUARY

peration with those who denied the evi-dence of the paleoclimate record. But hisremembrances about his professor, the lateFritz Houtermans, who inspired Hans toundertake the study of isotopic geochemis-try, were always the high point of lunch. Itwas Houtermans who first asked Hans toset up a radiocarbon laboratory.

In Hans’ case, it is difficult to separatethe scientist from the man. He was genu-inely and personally concerned about howthe change in our planetary environmentwould impact people and his belovedSwiss Alps. Mankind’s great experimentwith the Earth’s atmosphere was his per-sonal concern. He was a strong advocatefor science in the service of society, and heconsidered it his personal responsibility topoint out the climate risk to future genera-tions by loading the atmosphere withgreenhouse gases. As Hans would say: “inthe frame of PAGES, we need to learn fromthe experiments that nature has conductedin the past and that are recorded as traceconstituent concentrations and isotopicsignatures in earth system components innatural archives”.

JOHN A. EDDY

Office for Environmental PublicationsManistique MI, USAjeddy@tardis.svsu.edu

HERMAN B. ZIMMERMAN

National Science Foundation, Arlington VA, USAhzimmerm@nsf.gov

12

LAKES

16m

4m

500 m

Related to the need to improve our un-derstanding of global paleoclimate pat-terns and their forcing, there has been agrowing interest within the paleo-climate community in linking marineand terrestrial records. While the lastdecades have seen an immense effort bythe whole paleoceanographic commu-nity in recovery and study of marinerecords, the terrestrial community hasonly recently begun to coordinate sucha concerted effort (see PAGES Work-shop Report 96–4: Continental Drillingfor Paleoclimate Records). To take in-ventory of the geographical range andtypes of paleoclimatic information thatcan be obtained from long lacustrinesedimentary records, D.Ariztegui, V.Markgraf and P. Baker convened a ses-sion on “Large Lake Records and NewPerspectives for Continental Paleo-climate Archives” at the AGU Fall Meet-ing 1998 in San Francisco.

Thirty-eight oral and poster presen-tations illustrated both the level of activ-ity world-wide in the recovery andstudy of long lacustrine sediment re-cords, as well as the extent of interest inthat research. Presentations dealt withpaleolimnological and paleoclimate re-sults from studies of lacustrine se-quences from essentially every conti-nent, including Antarctica, from theQuaternary to the Permian. A large va-riety of geophysical, neo- and paleo-limnological methods, many of them

comparable to paleoceanographic me-thods, were discussed. Results wereshown from ongoing pioneering pro-jects in South America (Patagonianlakes, Lake Titicaca), east Africa (Riftlakes), Kyrgyzstan (Lake Issyk Kul) andSiberia (Elgygytgyn Crater). New in-sights into long-term paleoclimatechange comprising several glacial-inter-glacial cycles were presented by multi-disciplinary projects in North America(Coastal Alaska, Lake Winnipeg, Lau-rentide Great Lakes, Great Salt Lake,Owens Lake, Lake Estancia, Guatema-lan lakes), Asia (Lake Baikal, QinghaiLake, Lake Biwa, Dead Sea) and Europe(Lake Constance, Lake Steisslingen,lakes in southern Sweden). From all thedifferent studies presented it becameapparent that every lake system pre-sents its own challenges in terms ofchronology, presence of climate proxies(geophysical, geochemical and biologi-cal) and limnological and regional cli-mate implications. Development of newproxies and their paleoclimate potentialis therefore an important aspect in mostof these studies. Some of the new ad-vances in the analysis of lake sedimentsfor paleoclimate reconstruction worthmentioning include: using δ15N as atracer for variations in salmon abun-dance, sulphur isotopes in gypsum andredox-sensitive metals and image analy-sis to quantify sedimentary observa-tions from thin-sections. In this context

the crucial importance of modern cali-bration studies was also stressed, andpresentation included analysis of δ18O incellulose of aquatic algae and waterplants in tropical lakes and of ostracodespecies in Patagonia. Another conclu-sion from the presentations was theimportance of high resolution andmulti-disciplinary studies in order toobtain more accurate and realisticpaleoclimatic reconstructions.

Finally, recent advances on the Glo-bal Lake Drilling (GLAD800) initiativewere presented by K. Kelts, S. Colman,T. Johnson and I. McGregor (NSF Conti-nental Drilling Program). The proposedfacility, including coring platform andcoring devices, is conceived to obtainhigh-quality undisturbed sedimentcores, and would be available for all NSFor International Continental ScientificDrilling Programme (ICDP) projectsaround the world and represent an im-portant step towards the developmentof a global network of long continentalrecords (for more details see next page).

DANIEL ARIZTEGUI

Laboratory of Limnogeology, Geological Institute,Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich,Switzerlanddaniel@erdw.ethz.chhttp://www.erdw.ethz.ch/~daniel

Large Lake Records and New Perspectives forContinental Paleoclimate ArchivesSAN FRANCISCO, USA, AGU FALL MEETING, DECEMBER 1998

Within the framework of PEP I, two closed basin lakes in Southern Patagonia were surveyed inJanuary 1998 by an international team of researchers. Evidence of dramatic lake level lowstandsare clearly recognized in this seismic profile of Lago Cari-Laufquen (41°S). Red lines markseismic reflections that indicate times of very shallow lake levels or even suabaerial exposure.

Acquisition of high-resolution seismic data onLago Cardiel (49°S). (Figures provided by theLimnogeology Laboratory, ETH Zürich,Switzerland).

ErratumThe report on the SEA DendroWorkshop in PAGES newsletter98–2 was missing two acknow-ledgements. The tree ringclimate reconstruction figurewas from Hemant Borgaonkarand Brendan Buckley was a co-author of the article.

13

LAKES

ANCHOR

ANCHORSHIELD

WINCHANCHOR

MOTORWELL

MOTOR

HYDRAULICTHRUSTER

OUTBOARD

ANCHOR

ANCHORSHIELD

ANCHORWINCH

CG

LIFE RAFT

LIFE JACKETS

LIFE RING

10 FT CORE RODS

PORT ABLE CRANE

WHEELS

WHEELS

CG

OPS

DES

K WH

EELS

WH

EELS

WH

EELS

CORE DESCRIPTION & ST ORAGE AREA

LIFE RING

CONSOLECONTROL

DRILLER

THRUSTER CONTROLS

WATER BALLASTFIRE EQUIP.

LIFE JACKETSLIFE RAFT

TABLE (FOLD UP)CORE DESCRIPTIONLIGHTS

SCI

DES

K

A/C

WINDOW DOOR

WIN

DO

W

EXTFIRE

F

36 FT

LIGHTS

FIREEXT

F

VISEPEDEST AL

RIG

COREWIRELINE

WORKSDRAW

DERRICK

SUB

S

LIG

HTS

HANDLING AREACORE BARREL

TOOLS

BITS

SMALL LAKES SCIENTIFIC CORING SYSTEM

GEN

HYDRAULICPUMP

TRAILER TONGUE

SHOWER

SINK

FRIG

TOILET

FOLD UP

FILE

POT

WAT

ER

LIGHTS

LIFE RING

JACKS & PINSTYP. ALL CORNERS

MOTOR

MTRHYDR

CG

PUMPDRLG

WH

EELS

MU

FFLE

R

TRAILER TONGUEFOLD UP

SUBMERSIBLEPUMP WELL

2 TON

WORK BENCH

DIESEL FUELTANK

LIGHTS

ANCHOR

ANCHORSHIELD

WINCH

SUBS

SPA

RE

PA

RTS

TOOLS

TRA

ILER

TON

GU

E

EMERGENCY)

4 F T X 6 F T

(DETACHES IN

& LOAD RAMPDOCK LANDING

FOLD

UP

ANCHOR

24 FT

HYDRAULIC & POWERPORT ABLE EMERGENCY

FOLD UP

WATER BALLAST

FIRE EQUIP.

LIGHTS

WINCHANCHOR

ANCHORSHIELD

ANCHOR

The PAGES Lake Drilling Task Force(LDTF) has been active for three and ahalf years now, and has yet to drill a lake(except for Baikal, where the BaikalDrilling Project (BDP) was begun ear-lier). However, slow but steady progresshas been made, and optimism is stillhigh.

A formal feasibility study of drillingin large lakes has been completed. Thisstudy was carried out by a consortiumof commercial companies, funded bythe International Continental ScientificDrilling Program (ICDP), and presentedto the LDTF in April, 1998. It was tar-geted at long (800+ m) cores from thelargest, deepest lakes. The recommen-ded equipment consists of an oil-fielddrill rig mounted on a large, modularbarge (made up of 40x8x8-ft modifiedshipping containers), which would in-corporate dynamic positioning andheave compensation. This systemwould certainly accomplish our goals,but is quite expensive: estimated costsfor drilling operations on a single largelake are on the order of 3–4 million USD.It is clear, however, that obtaining ~1000m cores in large, deep lakes will requirethis type of investment.

At the suggestion of some of themanagers at US NSF who are focused onpaleoclimate records (and less interestedin sediments more than a few glacialcycles old), smaller-scale possibilitieshave begun to be explored. This conceptwas reinforced by discussions at anICDP-funded workshop in May, 1998, toplan drilling at Lake Titicaca. Shortly af-terward, a group called DOSECC (Drill-ing, Observation, and Sampling of theEarth’s Continental Crust) stepped for-ward with an offer to help. DOSECC isa private, non-profit corporation fundedby US NSF (similar to the Joint Oceano-graphic Institution (JOI) for the oceano-graphic community) to assist with U.S.continental drilling activities. DOSECCoffered the services of its engineers tohelp design a smaller lake drillingsystem. They also offered to operate thesystem at cost (much lower than com-mercial costs), and to own, store, andmaintain it, once initially acquired, forfuture drilling operations. These offerswere viewed as significant advances ofour plans and needs, so we proceeded totry to take advantage of them.

PAGES Lake Drilling Task Force (LDTF)

The initial design criteria were coresas much as 200␣ m long in as much as200␣ m of water. It is likely that this is suf-ficient to address most (but not all)paleoclimate issues in most (but not all)lakes. The design produced by DOSECC,and discussed at a small meeting in Min-neapolis in October, 1998, calls for a min-ing-style drill rig mounted on a 24x36foot raft supported by marine industrial-grade inflatable pontoons. Further dis-cussions revealed that the system couldbe equipped with a drill rig that wouldhave a total drill-string length of up to800 m and still obtain cores of standardOcean Drilling Program (ODP) diameter.This system could also be mounted on alarger barge for drilling operations inlakes that are too large for the anchored,inflatable-pontoon-based raft.

The smaller system is viewed ascomplementary to the larger drilling sys-tem, providing additional options atmore modest costs. In no way can it serveas a replacement for the original largersystem, which still would be required fordrilling deep cores in the largest lakes.An intermediate option would be tomount the smaller drill rig on a moresubstantial barge and drill as deep as the800 m total-drill-string limit would allow.

It was suggested that the smallerdrilling system be constructed near

DOSECC engineering headquarters inSalt Lake City and tested in nearby GreatSalt Lake and Bear Lake, which have ex-cellent scientific justifications for drilling.Despite the excellent scientific reasonsfor drilling in Great Salt and Bear Lakes,this operation would still be focused ondesign, acquisition, and testing of thesystem, and would not be intended as anew drilling initiative in competitionwith the lake drilling projects tentativelyapproved by ICDP (IDEAL lakes [Ed-ward, Malawi, and Tanganyika], LakeTiticaca, and Qinghai Lake).

Representatives of groups with re-search experience in Great Salt Lake andBear Lake met in mid-December, 1998,to draft a proposal that would be sub-mitted to both ICDP and US NSF. Thegroups include the Universities of Ari-zona, Minnesota, Kansas State, andUtah, as well as the U.S. Geological Sur-vey. A variety of scientific issues thatcould be addressed by drilling were dis-cussed, including paleoclimate (over thelast 150–450 ka), neotectonics, structuralgeology, and basin/biological evolution.The amount of drilling associated witheach of these objectives varies, so the as-sociated costs were modularized in theproposal. In all cases, cores obtained inthe testing operation would be subjectedto basic processing and archiving (split-

Preliminary drawing of the raft for the smaller drilling system

14

LAKES

Unraveling the climatic history of Africaand the Near East during the past 2000years remains one of the major chal-lenges in paleoclimate research, andsediment records from crater lakes areamong the most valuable sources of in-formation on this history. However,apart from the unique biology and dis-tinct hydrogeological settings of thetropical and subtropical crater lakes dot-ting the southern half of the PEP␣ IIItransect, their study also involves issuesof access, organization, and scientificinfrastructure that are quite differentfrom the situation in Europe and add tothe challenge of obtaining high-qualityclimate-proxy records from them (seePAGES Newsletter 97–2). The 1996PEP␣ III strategy meeting in Bierville (seePAGES Report 97–2) stressed the urgentneed to redress the current geographicimbalance of paleoclimatic informationwithin the PEP␣ III transect, and recom-mended prioritization of a researchinitiative focusing specifically on high-resolution, PAGES Time Stream 1 paleo-climate reconstruction using sedimentrecords from crater lakes and othersmall lakes in Africa and the Near East.

The African Crater Lakes workshopin Gent brought together a group of lead-ing paleolimnologists currently active inAfrica and the Near East, PAGES repre-sentatives, and specialists in data acqui-sition and management who could takeon the function of a thematic workinggroup to promote, guide and coordinatefuture lake-based, late Holocene paleocli-mate research following PAGES guide-lines with respect to time resolution,chronological control, climate-proxy cali-bration, and data management.

Regional data synthesisDespite the large number of crater lakesand other small natural water bodiesacross Africa and the Near East, only asmall subset of them are likely to haveaccumulated a continuous record of pastenvironmental change resolvable at sub-annual to decadal time scales. A majorobjective of the meeting was to identifyand rank specific study sites according totheir potential for paleoclimate recon-struction. The main part of the meetingtherefore comprised region-by-region

summaries of the present status of TimeStream 1 paleoclimate research in Africaand the Near East, and comparativeevaluation of sites according to their po-tential to preserve a continuous sedi-ment record of late-Holocene hydro-cli-matic variability. The geographical hubof the southern PEP␣ III transect is theEast African Rift, within which key areasinclude central Ethiopia (data sum-marised by H. Lamb and L. Carvalho),central Kenya (D. Verschuren), andsouthwest Tanzania (D. Williamson, P.Barker). Other important clusters of cra-ter lakes, so far less well studied paleo-limnologically, exist in western Uganda(D. Verschuren), Cameroon, and Mada-gascar (F. Gasse). Important complemen-tary archives exist in the form of smallhigh-altitude headwater lakes, in somecases pro-glacial, and recent work on Mt.Kenya was described by K. Holmgren(on behalf of W. Karlén) and P. Barker.The intense hydrological deficit in north-eastern Africa means that few lakes ofany kind are available for study, makingthe handful of extant crater lakes innorthern Sudan prime study targets (S.Kroepelin). A greater density of craterlakes exists adjacent to the Jordan Riftand in central and eastern Turkey (N.Roberts). Subtropical regions at thesouthern end of the PEP III transect seemto have few lake sites suitable for high-resolution paleoclimate research (L.Scott), and are likely to be better servedvia other climate-proxy archives such asspeleothem records (K. Holmgren).

Research QuestionsThe working group identified two prin-cipal categories of research questions: (1)fundamental questions about the historyand causes of climatic variability, and (2)methodological questions about the reli-ability of sedimentary proxy records asthe source of information on that cli-matic variability.

(1) The primary goal of Time Stream␣ 1paleoclimate research on African craterand other small lakes is to document thetemporal patterns and spatial coherenceof past climatic change with a quality ofproxy data and chronological control thatpermits evaluation of possible causativemechanisms over a hierarchy of time-

PEP III African Crater Lakes WorkshopGENT, BELGIUM, OCTOBER 10–11 1998

Lake Sonachi, Eastern Rift Valley, Kenya(Photo: Dirk Verschuren).

LDTF, continued from previous page

ting, description, logging, and recon-naissance dating and compositionalanalyses). From there, the cores wouldbe available for future detailed analyti-cal projects. The acquisition and con-struction costs of the system are about0.7 million USD. Minimum costs for test-drilling operations and basic core pro-cessing are about 0.3 million USD for300–400 m of core (paleoclimate or neo-tectonic issues only). For the 2500 m ofcore that would be necessary to addressall of the scientific issues, the drilling-processing costs would be about 0.5 mil-lion. Total cost of the acquisition andtesting project would therefore range be-tween 1.0 and 1.2+ million USD.

We have been working for almostfour years to develop a functional lake-drilling system. We believe that the pro-posed drilling system would provide anopportunity to address many of the pri-orities of ICDP and PAGES, includingthose of previously reviewed ICDPlake-drilling projects. Much depends onthe fate of this latest proposal in the re-view process at ICDP and NSF over thenext few months (January–April, 1999).Stay tuned.

STEVEN M. COLMAN

U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole MA, USAscolman@usgs.govhttp://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/~scolman/

15

LAKES

scales. For high-frequency variations,such as those induced by ENSO or solarforcing, a prime criterion for a lake-sedi-ment record to be of value is that it pos-sesses the annual chronometer of varves.On the other hand the working grouprecognized that for documentation of thelong-term climate shifts contemporarywith the European Little Ice Age, and thefrequency, intensity and duration of ma-jor drought and flood episodes, a moreimportant criterion is that a lake has beenadequately sensitive to hydroclimaticvariations without desiccating com-pletely during the more arid phases.

(2) Within- and between-site integra-tion of climate-proxy data required fordocumentation of temporal and spatialcoherence in past climate critically de-pends on the reliability of both the lakesystem and the sedimentary climateproxies to record truthfully climate his-tory. The working group stressed the im-portance of developing strategies for thecalibration and validation of recon-structed climate variations, in particularfluctuations in effective moisture (P-E),at individual sites. Crater lakes are notfundamentally different from otheraquatic systems in having complex andsometimes lagged hydrological, hydro-chemical and biological responses to cli-matic variations. As much as possible,climate-proxy data from recent lake sedi-ments must be validated against histori-cal limnological and climatic time series.Of particular value for climate-proxyvalidation are lake districts and systemswhere suitable conditions exist to eluci-date processes of climate-proxy forma-tion and preservation through compara-

tive historical paleolimnology. The pro-spective generation, integration, and useof multi-proxy data obtained from a net-work of lake-sediment and speleothemarchives also raised important issues ofinformation management (S. Juggins). Itwas agreed that development of a rela-tional database system will be a primaryrequirement if systematic and quantita-tive intra- and inter-site comparison oflake sediment data within the PEP␣ IIItransect is to be achieved.

RecommendationsA multiple-track approach was pro-posed for future PEP␣ III Time Stream 1paleoclimate research:

1) Four lake districts in East Africa al-ready tested for scientific and logisticsuitability should be developed as natu-ral laboratories for validation of climate-proxy archives: the Debre Zeit (Bishoftu)crater lakes in Ethiopia, the LakeNaivasha system in Kenya, the cluster ofproglacial and high-elevation craterlakes on Mt. Kenya, and the Rungwe cra-ter lakes in Tanzania.

2) From each of these districts, onelake should be selected for the recoveryof a high-resolution climate-proxy re-cord spanning the last 2000 years. Thesesites will form an initial spatial networkof high-quality small-lake records thatcan be compared with records of pos-sible climate-forcing mechanisms, andlinked to comparable climate-proxyrecords obtained from the large AfricanRift lakes (under the auspices of IDEAL),speleothems (SPEP␣ III), and corals.

3) Exploratory fieldwork for high-quality sediment records should be un-

Validation of lake sediment records can beprovided by historical data. Here, the recordedwater level of Lake Oloidien, Naivasha, Kenya(left) over the last century is compared againstthe results of a 210Pb-dated short sediment core.Stratigraphic changes in the two principaldiatom taxa, A. ambigua (fresh, planktonic)and C. elkab (halophytic, benthic) andinferred conductivity, match closely to thesequence of historic lake-level fluctuations atthis site. (Simplified from Verschuren, D.,Tibby, J., Leavitt, P.R. and Roberts, C.N. Theenvironmental history of a climate-sensitivelake in the former 'White Highlands' ofcentral Kenya. Ambio, in press).

dertaken in other promising regionsalong the southern PEP␣ III transect, suchas Cameroon, western Uganda, Sudan,Turkey, and Madagascar. Because mod-ern sediment samples collected fromthese lakes will be essential for establish-ing a comprehensive training set for nu-merical calibration of biological and geo-chemical climate proxies throughout thePEP␣ III transect, community-wide coor-dination and integration of effort isneeded to ensure that a common set ofprotocols is applied to the collection andprocessing of samples and environmen-tal data.

4) High priority should be given tothe application and testing of a relationaldatabase, based on that developed forthe PALICLAS Italian crater lakes project(see Juggins, Newsletter 98–2), to com-pare and integrate data produced inlake-specific investigations and to inter-face the PEP␣ III results with global dataarchives (World Data Center-A).

5) Progress in this multi-faceted ini-tiative should be reviewed and pre-sented to the wider scientific communityat the INQUA Congress in Durban (Au-gust 1999) to promote community-widescientific coordination and stimulate in-volvement of African scientists.

NEIL ROBERTS

Department of Geographical Sciences, Universityof Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL48AA, UKcnroberts@plymouth.ac.uk

DIRK VERSCHUREN

Department of Biology, University of Gent,Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgiumdirk.verschuren@rug.ac.be

1991 0

cmTimeDiatom-inferred

conductivityLake water

depth Aulaco

seira

ambig

ua

Cratic

ula el

kab

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0 5 10

metres

15 20 0 20 40

% abundance µS cm-1, ±RMSE

60 80 20 40 60 80 100 0 5 10 15 20x103

1990

19801970

1960

1950

1940

19201900

1880

16

The European Lake Drilling Program-me (ELDP) was launched as an ESF (Eu-ropean Science Foundation) ScientificProgramme by the ESF ExecutiveCouncil in November 1995 for a periodof five years, starting operations inJanuary 1996. It is supported by themember organisations from Belgium,France, Germany, Norway, Poland,Sweden, Switzerland and The Nether-lands.

Scientists involved plan to furtherthe recovery and interpretation of highresolution lacustrine paleoclimatic andpaleoenvironmental archives in Europe.As many sites have already been stud-ied in detail by individual researchteams, it has become an attractive chal-lenge to pool these data from as manyEuropean regions as possible on a com-mon calendar-year time scale to give an-swers to some of the key questions ofPAGES.

Continental paleoclimate records arecritical because they provide evidenceof the impacts of past climatic changesthat were relevant to human societiesand their activities. Among these re-cords, high resolution lake sedimentshave particular advantages for paleocli-matic reconstructions and modelling, asthey are present in various differentenvironments and geographic locations,they provide continuous and high-reso-

lution records, they are archives for alarge variety of climate- and environ-ment-related proxies, they provide dataneeded for modelling climate changes,they give an enhanced continental per-spective on paleoclimatic informationand they contribute to land-sea-ice cor-relations.

The main activities of ELDP are builtaround major annual workshops to pro-vide effective links between ongoingresearch programmes. Previous ELDPworkshops have been organised in LeBischenberg (France), in Cracow (Po-land) on “European dimension of highresolution lacustrine records” and inPtolemais (Greece) on “MediterraneanLacustrine Records” – for the latter seethe report below. The next workshop isplanned for Lund (Sweden) on “Corre-lations of Late Weichselian and Ho-locene paleoenvironmental proxy data -a comparison of independent timescalesbased on high-resolution lacustrinedata” – see the calendar on the last pageof this Newsletter. During ELDP work-shops special efforts are devoted to thecorrelation of high resolution paleoenvi-ronmental records across the Europeancontinent which are focussed along fourmain transects. For these transects re-gional working groups have beenformed which are an integral part ofELDP. These working groups are related

The 3rd international ELDP Workshop,entitled “Mediterranean Lacustrine Re-cords” was held in Ptolemais, Greece,on October 14–18, 1998. The meeting at-tracted 34 participants from 12 Euro-pean countries and two participantsfrom Israel and Japan. It began withbrief reports of the five different ELDPworking groups: “Northern Europe” (I.Snowball), “Atlantic Transect” (S.Leroy), “Central Europe” (J. Merkt),“Southern Europe” (R. Julia) and“Climate Variability in Annual to Milan-kovich Frequency Bands” (J. Meulen-kamp). These were followed by presen-tations concentrating on lacustrinerecords from the Mediterranean areacovering the time span of marine oxy-

LAKES

European Lake Drilling Programme (ELDP)

to “Northern Europe”, the “AtlanticTransect” (see also working group re-port in the PAGES Newsletter 98–2,p.␣ 11), “Central Europe” and “SouthernEurope”. An additional topical workinggroup is related to “Climate Variabilityin Annual to Milankovich FrequencyBands”.

For more information on the pro-gramme´s progress and on recent devel-opments, please visit the ELDP home-page at http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/pb3/pb33/eldphome/.

BERND ZOLITSCHKA

GeoForschungsZentrum, Potsdam, Germanyzoli@gfz-potsdam.de

Mediterranean Lacustrine RecordsPTOLEMAIS, GREECE, OCTOBER 14–18, 1998

gen isotope stages 1 to 5 or, roughly, thelast 130,000 years. Talks included suchtopics as high resolution interglacial re-cords, climatic fluctuations detectedduring the last glacial and their relationto similar events recorded in Greenlandsummit ice cores and marine sedimentrecords, short-term climatic events dur-ing the late glacial and early Holocene,environmental changes during the last2000 years, the application of tephra lay-ers as time markers and as a correlationtool, biotic and abiotic responses to or-bital and solar forcing, and climaticmodelling. A mid-conference one dayfield trip was organised to the late Neo-gene lacustrine sediments of the Ptole-mais basin, providing an impressive ex-

ample of the effects of orbital forcing inMilankovich and sub-Milankovich fre-quency bands to sedimentological andenvironmental processes.

Extended abstracts of almost all pre-sentations and the excursion guide havebeen published as volume 1998/6 ofTerra Nostra – Schriftenreihe der Alfred-Wegener-Stiftung. This volume can beordered online at http://www.aw-stiftung.de/publikationen.htm.

BERND ZOLITSCHKA

GeoForschungsZentrum, Potsdam, Germanyzoli@gfz-potsdam.de

17

The Global Paleo-Vegetation Project(BIOME 6000) was initiated at a work-shop in Hörby, Sweden in 1994 underthe joint auspices of IGBP-GAIM, IGBP-DIS, IGBP-GCTE and IGBP-PAGES. Theaim of BIOME 6000 was to assemblepollen data for 6000 and 18,000 yearsbefore present (yr B.P.), and to use thesedata to construct global maps of vegeta-tion for these time periods, using a stan-dard, objective “biomisation” techniquebased on the classification of plant taxainto plant functional types.

Although there have been severalBIOME 6000 workshops, focussing onassembling and creating regional BIO-ME 6000 data sets, the workshop re-cently held in Jena was the first oppor-tunity for the BIOME 6000 communityto meet since its inauguration. The Jenameeting had two goals: (a) to review theprogress that had been made towardsproducing global biome maps for 6000and 18,000 yr B.P., and (b) to review fu-ture applications of the technology andvery extensive data sets being devel-oped by the project.

Reports on the state of the regionalBIOME 6000 data sets were presentedfor Beringia (Mary Edwards), the West-ern USA (Kathy Anderson), Eastern andBoreal North America (Jack Williams),Europe (Joel Guiot), Russia and centralAsia (Pavel Tarasov), South America(Rob Marchant and Henry Hooghiem-stra), Africa (Dominique Jolly), Japan(Shinya Sugita), China (Ge Yu) andSoutheast Asia-Australasia (Geoff Hopeand Liz Pickett). These reports made itclear that the biomisation techniqueprovides robust reconstructions of themodern vegetation, across a wide rangeof climates and vegetation types andeven in regions significantly impactedby human activity. Biome maps for 6000and 18,000 yr B.P. have been producedfor most regions of the globe. Thebiomisation of the remaining regions(specifically South America and theSoutheast Asia-Australasia regions) isbeing very actively pursued, and biomemaps for these regions are expected tobe ready during the winter of 1998/1999.

The BIOME 6000 project was origi-nally envisaged as providing data sets

that could be used for model evaluationwithin the IGBP-GAIM “6000 yr B.P.experiment” (an initiative to quantifythe importance of biophysical feedbacksin the climate system) and within thePaleoclimate Modelling Intercom-parison Project (PMIP). Sandy Harrisongave an update on progress withinPMIP and showed how the BIOME 6000data set for Africa had already beenused to demonstrate that model-simu-lated changes in the African monsoon inresponse to orbital forcing were toosmall to explain the observed vegeta-tion changes. Presentations by ColinPrentice, John Kutzbach and ClaudiaKubatzki, reporting on work carried outwithin the GAIM “6000 yr B.P. experi-ment” and within the TEMPO (TestingEarth system Models with Paleoenvi-ronmental Observations) project, madeit clear that it will be necessary to incor-porate feedbacks due to ocean- and/orland-surface changes in order to simu-late the observed enhancement of theAfrican monsoon more realistically.Ocean and land-surface feedbacks arealso implicated in the correct simulationof e.g. the Asian monsoon and high-lati-tude summer warming during the mid-Holocene, and northern hemispheremid-latitude cooling and the expansionof deserts at the last glacial maximum.The BIOME 6000 data set will, of course,be an important resource to evaluateplanned coupled atmosphere-ocean-biosphere model experiments whichincorporate such feedbacks.

However, as several presentationsmade clear, model evaluation is not theonly task to which the BIOME 6000 ap-proach can be usefully applied. BobThompson showed results of the biomi-sation of pollen and plant-macrofossildata from western North America formultiple time periods, and how theseresults could be used to document theevolution of vegetation since the glacialmaximum. Joel Guiot and Shinya Sugitademonstrated alternative methods thatcould be used to make quantitative cli-mate reconstructions from biomiseddata. Joel Guiot also discussed ways inwhich the biome data at individual sitescould be spatially generalised in orderto derive gridded maps of land-surface

conditions which could be used tospecify land-surface characteristics inmodel simulations. Although these ap-proaches have been developed withdata sets for specific regions, they couldbe applied globally.

The existing BIOME 6000 data sets,and the additional applications of BIO-ME 6000 data and methodology demon-strated at the workshop, could contrib-ute significantly to a number of IGBPinitiatives. The potential links betweenBIOME 6000 and some of these initia-tives were explored in presentations byJohn Dodson (the Pole-Equator-Poletransects), Rachid Cheddadi (EuropeanPollen Data Base), Louis Francois (thePaleo-Carbon Cycle Modelling Inter-comparison Project), Sheila Hicks(CAPE: Circum-Arctic Paleo-Environ-ments), Matt Duvall (PALE: Paleo-environments of Arctic Lakes & Estuar-ies), Ralph Schneider (IMAGES), FrankOldfield (Global Land Cover), andColin Prentice (GAIM Paleo Trace Gasand Mineral Aerosols Challenge).

The Jena meeting amply demon-strated that the BIOME 6000 project isalive, well and on target to achieve itsgoal of producing global vegetationmaps for 6000 and 18,000 yr B.P. in 1999.The success of the project is largely dueto a very extensive collaboration, nowinvolving more than 150 scientistsworldwide. The first fruits of this inter-national collaboration, in the form ofbiome maps for individual regions, arebeing published in three special issuesof the Journal of Biogeography during1998–1999. However, the demonstrationof new applications of the BIOME 6000approach and the lively discussions atthe Jena meeting indicate that we canexpect an even richer, long-term scien-tific harvest from BIOME 6000.

Our thanks go to the German IGBPSecretariat for their support of thismeeting and to IGBP-GAIM, IGBP-DISand the MPG for providing the fundingthat made it possible.

SANDY P. HARRISON AND I. COLIN PRENTICE

Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena,Germanysandy.harrison@bgc-jena.mpg.decolin.prentice@bgc-jena.mpg.de

The Global Paleo-Vegetation Project (BIOME 6000)JENA , GERMANY, OCTOBER 6–10, 1998

WORKSHOP REPORTS

18

UPCOMING WORKSHOP

Inter-PEP LinkagesAPPENBERG, SWITZERLAND, SEPTEMBER 1–2,1999

Developing from the success in promot-ing inter-hemispheric research pro-grams through the three PEP (Pole-Equator-Pole) transects, the time hascome to compare and contrast the re-sults to date from these programs. Link-ing activities between the three PEPtransects can help to further strengthenour understanding of mechanisms andcauses of present and past global cli-mate change and variability. To this end,a workshop on “Inter-PEP Linkages” isplanned for September of 1999 at theAppenberg conference center near Bern,chaired by Vera Markgraf (University ofColorado) and Steve Colman (USGS,Woods Hole), in conjunction with bothPIs’ stay at the PAGES office in Bern.The goal of this workshop is to formu-late a science agenda for research pro-grams that will enhance inter-PEP link-ages. Scientists will be invited whopreviously have shown interest or havebeen actively involved in intra-hemi-spheric linkages of climate, present andpast. The approach will be to focus onspecific climate phenomena and climateanomalies of zonal character, and theirpaleoenvironmental expression, such asENSO, Indian and African monsoonsand westerly winds.

VERA MARKGRAF

INSTAAR, University of Colorado, Boulder CO, USAmarkgraf@spot.colorado.edu

PAGES is pleased to announce a compe-tition for at least three young scientistsfrom developing countries to attend theSwiss summer school “The Dynamics ofthe Earth System: Processes and Re-cords of Past Climate Change” July 17–24, 1999. The summer school will beheld in Hasliberg in the Bernese Ober-land and will be coordinated by ThomasStocker and Andy Lotter from the Uni-versity of Bern. The week long programfeatures a series of lectures by interna-tionally renowned paleoscientists aswell as opportunities for poster presen-tations. Detailed information about thesummer school is available from thewebsite http://phkup0.unibe.ch/summer/.For scientists without access to the inter-net, please contact the PAGES IPO fordetails.

In addition to the week long summerprogram, it is hoped that the PAGESfellowship winners will be able to spenda week in the PAGES office in Bern mak-ing personal connections with PAGES,while at the same time raising the pro-file of research in their home country atthe PAGES IPO. Applicants for a fellow-ship should send their applications

To recognize the achievements of out-standing young scientists from Africa,Asia and Oceania, the InternationalSTART Secretariat is requesting nomi-nations for the START Young ScientistAward Program. Award decisions willbe based on a journal article publishedby the young scientist (preferably inEnglish). In keeping with START’s mis-sion of conducting research on regionalaspects of global change, the articleshould focus on some aspect of globalchange research that is being conductedon a regional level or has a strong re-gional focus.

Awards, which include an hono-rarium, will be made to scientists fromdeveloping countries in each of theSTART regions: Africa, South Asia,Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania.Award announcements are expected tobe made in June 1999.

Applicants for the START Young Sci-entist Awards must be 40 years of age oryounger. In the case of multi-authored

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The European GeophysicalSociety has presented its mostprestigious award, HonoraryMembership, to W. Dans-gaard, C. Lorius and H.Oeschger (†, see p. 10) fortheir common fundamentalachievements in our presentknowledge of the climate of theEarth. The official awardceremony will take place duringthe 24th General Assemply atThe Hague, The Netherlands,Monday April 19, 1999.

articles, the applicant should be the leadauthor of the article. The article shouldhave been published within the last twoyears.

Recipients of START Fellowship/Visiting Scientist Awards are stronglyencouraged to submit articles they mayhave published based on research con-ducted with START support.

Articles will be reviewed in consul-tation with the respective START Re-gional Centers/Secretariats and by aspecial review committee. Applicants ornominators should submit the journalarticle and a brief biography to:

AMY FREISE

Program AssociateInternational START Secretariat2000 Florida Avenue, NW, Suite 200Washington, DC 20009USAPhone: (+1-202) 462-2213Fax: (+1-202) 457-5859afreise@agu.org

START Young Scientist Award Program

materials to arrive at the PAGES IPO nolater than Monday May 19th. Note thatthis is an extended deadline, and also adifferent place to submit materials thanfor the general summer school as listedon the website. This extended deadlineis granted only to people applying forthese PAGES fellowships, and is due tothe relatively late announcement of thisopportunity.

Application materials required forthis PAGES fellowship are:1. An abstract of your poster if you

would like to present one.2. Your curriculum vitae, including

date of receipt (or anticipated re-ceipt) of PhD and contact address,phone number, fax number andemail if possible.

3. Your list of publications.4. One letter of recommendation by a

referee of your choice.5. A one page statement of why and

how you would like to establishcloser contact with the PAGES re-search community during a shortstay at the PAGES IPO.

PAGES Grants for Swiss Summer School

19

Changes in PAGES SSCPAGES SSC welcomes two new mem-bers in 1999:

Vera Markgraf, having passed onthe mantle of PEP1 leadership to GeoffSeltzer (see p. 3), has freed up some timefor duties on the PAGES SSC. Vera is aresearch professor in the Institute ofArctic and Alpine Research, Universityof Colorado. She brings to the SSC anexpertise in late Quaternary palynologywith focus on reconstruction of past cli-mate, dynamics and forcing of climatechange, with special emphasis on SouthAmerica and times of transition, such asthe late glacial. Vera will be spendingpart of a sabbatical year in Bern startingin June 1999, and will work closely withthe IPO on issues of inter-PEP compari-sons and the PAGES synthesis effort.

Thomas Stocker brings a muchneeded dynamical and modeling per-spective to the SSC. Thomas is a profes-sor of Climate and Environmental Phys-ics at the Physics Institute, University ofBern and has been Co-director of thePhysics Institute since 1993. He has awide range of modeling interests whichinclude both paleo work as well as look-ing at the influence of magnitude and

rates of potential future CO2 increaseson the ocean thermohaline circulation.In addition, he is an active participant inAntarctic ice core research. Based inBern, Thomas is in regular contact withthe IPO and we look forward to work-ing with him in 1999 on both the devel-opment of the PAGES/CLIVAR inter-section program as well as the PAGESsynthesis effort.

At the same time two members ro-tate off the SSC:

Michael Lautenschlager provided amodeling perspective and a wide rang-ing interests including multiproxy re-constructions of the Asian monsoon sys-tem. All the members of the PAGES SSCand the IPO join in thanking Michael forhis valuable contributions.

Ray Bradley, having finished twoterms on the SSC, is stepping down aschairman and at the same time rotatingoff the SSC. He plans to keep an activeprofile in PAGES however, concentrat-ing his efforts on the PAGES synthesisand leadership of the PANASH project.Ray’s past efforts for PAGES have beencrucial to its success. As well as acting asChair during a period of challenging

PAGES Workshop Support

transition, he has also been central to theestablishment of the PALE (subse-quently CAPE) and PANASH Activi-ties.

Finally, PAGES welcomes a newchairman to the SSC:

Tom Pedersen, professor in the de-partment of Earth and Ocean Sciences,University of British Columbia, is al-ready well known to PAGES throughhis active participation in the IMAGESprogram and membership on thePAGES SSC. In 1999, he takes over aschair of the SSC. His interests encom-pass a broad spectrum within sedimen-tary marine and lacustrine geochemis-try, with a current research focus onchemical variability in sediments andstable carbon, oxygen and nitrogen iso-topic analysis of carbonates and organicmatter to determine how the ocean be-haved in the past. He also has ongoingresearch interest in the controls of accu-mulation, burial, preservation, andcomposition of organic matter in open-ocean and continental margin sedi-ments.

INSIDE PA ESA A AN

PAGES workshops serve to synthesizeinformation, coordinate on-going re-search, define new avenues of research,and organize community participationin the implementation of relevant re-search. Workshops are generally opento broad community participation,though PAGES funding for each is lim-ited. PAGES also sponsors smallerworkshops devoted to defining andlaunching specific projects, as well astopical working groups to advance ar-eas of PAGES-related science.

It is the responsibility of workshoporganizers to generate most of the fund-ing necessary for the workshop. PAGESfunding can however be provided todemonstrate international interest, andthereby help organizers obtain nationalfunding. In general, PAGES funding isno more than 10,000 US$ per workshopand is wherever possible and appropri-ate earmarked for participants from de-veloping and former eastern blockcountries. PAGES also usually requests

a written post-workshop product, forexample an item for inclusion in thePAGES newsletter, production of aPAGES workshop report, or increas-ingly, a special issue of a peer reviewedpublication.

A proposal consists of a brief (nomore than one page) description of theworkshop goals, planned workshopproducts and planned use of PAGESfunds submitted to the PAGES IPO fordiscussion by the PAGES SSC. The SSCmeets annually to determine fundingfor the subsequent year. The proposaldeadline for the 1999 PAGES SSC meet-ing, at which workshops for the year2000 will be discussed, is April 15, 1999.Almost all the funds for 1999 have al-ready been allocated.

Further details, including a list ofcompleted and planned PAGES work-shops can be found on our website(http://www.pages.unibe.ch/workshops/workshops.html).

The PAGES IPO maintains adatabase of national PAGESactivities. This includesindividuals who serve asnational or regional PAGESpoints of contact, researchprograms being carried outnationally as contributions orcomplements to PAGES, as wellas workshops and conferencesbeing held in specific countries.In 1999, we plan to make thisdatabase available on ourwebsite. At present, we wouldgreatly appreciate it if anyinformation relevant to thisdatabase is e-mailed, faxed orsnail-mailed to the IPO. Oncethe database is online, we hopeto have a web based submis-sion capability.

LAST

20

The full PAGES calendar is available on our website (http://www.pages.unibe.ch/calendar/calendar.html).If you would like to have your meeting announced, please send us the conference details.

PA ES

•*April 28, 1999 “A forum on: Isotopes in PaleoclimateResearch”. Leicester University, United KingdomContact: Melanie. J. Leng, NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, Keyworth,Nottingham NG12 5GG, United Kingdom.Phone: +44 115 9363527 Fax: +44 115 936 3302m.leng@nigl.nerc.ac.ukhttp://www.pages.unibe.ch/workshops/isotopeforum.html

• May 3–6, 1999 “Global Ocean and Land SurfaceTemperatures during the Last Ice Age”. HANSEWissenschaftskolleg, Delmenhorst, GermanyContact: Ralph Schneider, Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen,Postfach 330 440, 28334 Bremen, Germany.Phone: +49 421 218 3579, Fax: +49 421 218 3116rschneid@uni-bremen.de

• May 6–14, 1999 “IGBP Congress (with PAGES ScientificSteering Committee Meeting)”. Shonan, JapanContact: IGBP Secretariat, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences,Lilla Frescativägen 4, Box 50005, S-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden.sec@igbp.kva.se

• May 10–14, 1999 “International Symposium on IsotopeTechniques in Water Resources Development andManagement”. Vienna, AustriaInternational Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA-SM-361, Vienna InternationalCentre, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria.official.mail@iaea.orghttp://www.iaea.org/worldatom/thisweek/preview/1999meet/infsm361.html

• May 21–27, 1999 “Paleoclimate Modelling and Analysis:Quaternary Earth System Interactions and Modelling”.Albufeira, PortugalContact: Dr. Josip Hendekovic, European Science Foundation,1 quai Lezay-Marnésia, 67080 Strasbourg, France.Phone: +33 3 88 76 71 35, Fax: +33 3 88 36 69 87euresco@esf.orghttp://www.esf.org/euresco/lc99108a.htm

•*July 17–24, 1999 “Swiss Climate Summer School: TheDynamics of the Earth System: Processes and Records ofPast Climate Change”. Hasliberg, SwitzerlandContact: Thomas Stocker,Climate and Environmental Physics,University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.Phone: +41-31-631 44 62, Fax: +41-31-631 44 05http://phkup0.unibe.ch/~stocker/summer/

•*July, 18–30, 1999 “IUGG99, Special Session MC11:On the Use of Coupled Models for Paleoclimate Studies”.Birmingham, UKhttp://www.bham.ac.uk/IUGG99/

•*July 28 – August 2, 1999 “IGCP Project No. 396,Continental Shelves in the Quaternary, 4th annualconference”. Cape Town, South AfricaContact: Mike Meadows, Dept of Environmental & Geographical Science,University of Cape Town, South Africa.Fax: +27 21 650 3791meadows@enviro.uct.ac.zahttp://www2.env.uea.ac.uk/gmmc/igcp/capetown/igcp99.html

PAGES CALENDAR •*August 3–11, 1999 “The Environmental Background toHominid Evolution in Africa - INQUA XV InternationalCongress”. Durban, South AfricaContact: Dr D.M. Avery - Secretary General, South African Museum,P.O. Box 61, Cape Town 8000, South Africa.Phone: +27-21-243330, Fax: +27-21-2467mavery@samuseum.ac.zahttp://INQUA.geoscience.org.za

• September 1–2, 1999 “Inter-PEP Linkages”.Appenberg, SwitzerlandContact: Vera Markgraf, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research,University of Colorado, Boulder CO 80309-0450, USA.Phone: +1 303 492 5117, Fax: +1 303 492 6388markgraf@spot.colorado.edu

•*September 13–17, 1999 “Fourth International Conferenceon Modelling of Global Climate Changeand Variability”. Hamburg, GermanyContact: Dr. Lydia Dümenil, Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie,Bundesstrasse 55, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.Phone: +49 40 41173-310, Fax:+49 40 41173-366mpi-conference@dkrz.dehttp://www.mpimet.mpg.de/~mpi-conference/

• September 17–22, 1999, “Polar Regions and QuaternaryClimate: Towards High-Resolution Records of the LastGlacial Period in Antarctica”. Giens, FranceContact: Dr. Josip Hendekovic, European Science Foundation,1 quai Lezay-Marnésia, 67080 Strasbourg, France.Tel: +33 3 88 76 71 35, Fax: +33 3 88 36 69 87http://www.esf.org/euresco/lc99115a.htm

• September 22–26, 1999 “Correlations of Late Weichselianand Holocene paleoenvironmental proxy data – acomparison of independent timescales based on high-resolution lacustrine data”. Lund, SwedenContact: Bernd Zolitschka, GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam,Telegrafenberg, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany.zoli@gfz-potsdam.dehttp://www.gfz-potsdam.de/pb3/pb33/eldphome/4th-ws.htm

• September 30 – October 3, 1999 “Swedish NationalIGBP-PAGES Meeting”. Lund/Höör, SwedenContact: Dr. Barbara Wohlfarth, Department of Quaternary Geology,Tornavägen 13, 223 63 Lund, Sweden.Fax: +46 46-2224830Barbara.Wohlfarth@geol.lu.se

• October 3–6, 1999 “Alkenone-Based PaleoceanographicIndicators”. Woods Hole, USAContact: Virginia (Gini) McKinnon, Department of Marine Chemistry andGeochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MS #4,Woods Hole, MA 02543-1543, USA.Phone: +1 508-289-2394, Fax: +1 508-457-2164vmckinnon@whoi.eduhttp://www.pages.unibe.ch/calendar/alkenone.html

•*November 15–19, 1999 “International Symposium onMultifaceted Aspects of Tree Ring Analysis”.Lucknow, IndiaContact: Dr. Amalava Bhattacharyya, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany,53 University Road, Lucknow 226 007, India.Phone/Fax: +91 522 381 948bsip@bsip.sirnetd.ernet.in

(* indicates open meetings – all interested scientists are invited to attend)