about PAGES

general overview

PAGES (Past Global Changes) supports research aimed at understanding the Earth’s past environment in order to make predictions for the future. We encourage international and interdisciplinary collaborations and seek to involve scientists from developing countries in the worldwide paleo-community. PAGES scope of interest includes the physical climate system, biogeochemical cycles, ecosystem processes, biodiversity, and human dimensions, on different time scales—Pleistocene, Holocene, last millennium and the recent past.

PAGES, founded in 1991, is a core project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and is funded by the U.S. and Swiss National Science Foundations, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is overseen by a Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) comprised of members chosen to represent the major techniques and disciplines, while at the same time providing regional geographic representation.

PAGES’ SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY

Over 3800 scientists in more than 100 countries around the world currently subscribe to PAGES. This growing community of scientists is conducting research within the PAGES sphere of interest. All scientists are encouraged to initiate PAGES scientific Foci and Cross-Cutting Themes, participate in PAGES workshops and contribute to PAGES products.

PAGES itself is not a research institution. Research activities are not prescribed by PAGES’ committees nor by the IPO. Rather, we maintain the required flexibility in our budget and our structure to respond to 'bottom-up' initiatives that arise from the community. PAGES provides support for workshops and contributes to the travel costs of Guest Scientists.

Subscribership to PAGES is free and open to anyone.

INTERNATIONAL PROJECT OFFICE

PAGES is run by a small International Project Office (IPO). The IPO is at the hub of PAGES and serves as a 'paleo-coffeehouse' where the paleo-community 'meet' to share, compare, and synthesize data.

The staff at the IPO manage projects; organize meetings and courses; aid in synthesizing research results in collaboration with scientists at large; publish a free, international science newsletter; and develop and maintain this website.

This website offers many services, among others:

> A calendar listing upcoming paleo-meetings and workshops
> A jobs database of available student, post-doc and faculty positions
> A data page aimed at facilitating public access to paleo-data
> The National PAGES providing contacts and links within individual countries
> An international people database of active paleoscientists and institutions
> A product database of relevant journal issues, books, newsletters and educational materials.

DOWNLOADABLE ARTICLES/PRESENTATIONS

Articles about PAGES:

> pages.pdf 400KB (published in IGBP Newsletter No. 50 by Keith Alverson)
> what_is_pages.pdf 75 KB (2002, by Keith Alverson and Julie Brigham-Grette)

Presentations on PAGES:

> pages.ppt 2,3 MB (2002) igbp-pages.ppt 4,1 MB (2003)