Fall Issue — November 2005
Paleoclimatic probing of past is key to comprehending climate change in the future
Global warming may be one of today’s hot topics, but media and public opinion on the matter stirs no passion in meteorologist Konrad Gajewski. A prisoner of conscience and dedication to his craft, the possibility of completing a methodical analysis of the decades worth of data — neatly piled folders-high on his desk — is what rouses this researcher to action.
Apaleoclimatologist at heart, Gajewski is undeniably convinced that the key to understanding the climate change of today — and in the future —is to go back in time by studying the vegetation and organisms buried deep in lake sediment in the Arctic, where evidence of significant warming abounds.
After nearly 15 years of wrestling this kind of data from the remote and often harsh environs of Canadian Arctic islands, Gajewski can now accelerate the pace of his microscopic analysis thanks to a $265,700 grant from the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS) — a grant that will also help students research arctic climate variables that extend back to the last Ice Age.
“We are hoping that the three years it will take to analyze our data will prove significant to advancing our understanding of the Arctic,” says Gajewski. “The Arctic seems to amplify climate changes. In the future, the biggest climate changes will occur in the Arctic.”
While he expects the quantification of the paleoclimatic data to prove his point, he already knows there have been major changes in the past century. Further study will determine the nature of those changes, how quickly organisms respond to the changes and whether the entire Arctic Region is involved.
Since the early nineties, CFCAS, funding in the amount of several million dollars, has also supported a multidisciplinary Canadian team — including Gajewski and the University of Ottawa’s Laboratory for
“Oceanographers, climate modelers, ecosystem modelers, glaciologists, paleoclimatologists and other earth scientists are all examining climate systems up close,” explains Gajewski. “Our emphasis is on polar climates, the area most affected by greenhouse warming.”
“I am confident that our project will give us a better understanding of how climate has changed over the past 20,000 years.” Related Links
- Gajewski’s Web site:
- The Laboratory of Paleoclimatology and Climatology:
- Department of Geography:
- Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS):