science activities

former Focus 2:
PAGES/CLIVAR Intersection

The “PAGES/CLIVAR Intersection” aims to improve the understanding of decadal- to century-scale climate variability—especially where relevant to improving predictability—through the use of high-resolution paleoclimate data. A major objective is to foster communication between the modeling and data communities.

While the old Focus 2 grouping is no longer in use, the PAGES/CLIVAR Intersection is still active as a body that runs activities addressing the scientific objectives of PAGES, mostly those of the new Focus 2 (Modes of Climate Variability).

Activities within the Intersection are overseen by a joint Working Group sponsored by PAGES and CLIVAR (the Climate Variability and Predictability Project of WCRP (World Climate Research Programme)). It plays an important role in developing and implementing the research agendas of both PAGES and CLIVAR. The group was established in the mid-1990s.

For details of meetings, please visit the PAGES/CLIVAR Intersection website hosted by CLIVAR.

If you are interested in joining your project to PAGES/CLIVAR or for further information, please contact the Working Group Leaders:
Eystein Jansen (PAGES)
Gavin Schmidt (CLIVAR)


Topics of interest

> Climate Variability over the Last Few Millennia
- Paleoclimate reconstruction methodology and data intercomparison: Various paleoclimate reconstruction methods are applied to common data sets to elucidate the differences between methods and regions.

- MedCLIVAR: An international program that coordinates and promotes the study of past climate variability in the Mediterranean region.

- LOTRED-South America: A regional program that addresses the reconstruction and understanding of long-term climate dynamics of southern South America.

> Abrupt Climate Change
Ocean dynamics, ice-sheet stability and related modeling studies. PAGES/CLIVAR especially seeks to initiate and support modeling studies of past abrupt climate change events.

> Hydrologic, Biospheric, Land-Surface Interactions
Building on the progress made by the PMIP I and PMIP II communities. Extending comparison of modeling data and related proxy evidence for mid-Holocene paleoenvironments (e.g., in Africa) to further regions and time slices.

> Tropical-Extratropical Links Including Ocean and Atmospheric Teleconnections
Promoting studies in the fields of ENSO, Monsoons, NAO, PDO and IOD. Interaction between the CLIVAR Southern Ocean Region Implementation Panel and the IMAGES Southern Ocean Working Group.

> Overarching and Cross-Cutting Implementation Issues
Promoting and coordinating the forward modeling of proxy data to link the paleoscience and modeling communities.


Selected publications

- Kiefer, T., 2006. PAGES/CLIVAR PPT presentation.
- Schmidt, G.A., & Jansen. E., 2006. The 8.2kyr event, PAGES News, 14:3, 28-29 (PDF, 706 KB).
- Masson-Delmotte, V., Beer, J., Cattle, H. & Kull, C., 2005. Climate Forcings, PAGES News/CLIVAR Exchanges, 13:3/11:1.
- 2005. 5-Year vision document of the CLIVAR/PAGES Working Group (PDF, 86 KB).
- 2005. Report of the 3rd Session of the CLIVAR / PAGES Intersection Working Group, CLIVAR Publication Series No 89.
- 2001. PAGES-CLIVAR Workshop "Climate of the Last Millennium" 1999 (PAGES Report 2001-1).
- 2000. A Joint Newsletter of PAGES and CLIVAR, PAGES News, 8:1.
- Duplessy, J.C., 1994. The PAGES/CLIVAR Intersection.