Whatever the weather
In the case of understanding rapid climatic change, it is of primary importance, that scientists look at past weather conditions and changes to compare and understand the significance of current fluctuations. In doing so, an EC funded project, PACLIVA, has turned to the North Atlantic. Using the Threshold counting method researchers have looked at data from over the last 1,200 years. They were able to determine that in the North-Atlantic Ocean (NAO), the pattern is at least non-consistent over multidecadal and longer time periods. It also indicates that a NAO-like pattern existed as far back as the Early Holocene period, but that the changes seen then are dissimilar in pattern to those experienced now. The modern changes to the NAO pattern occur both at a surface and subsurface level, implying the importance of advective dynamics. Since part of the project deliverables was to establish the wherewithal to reconstruct climatic conditions, the scientists found that changes occurring during the Early Holocene were experienced only on the surface level. Another objective was the import and the amalgamation of the datasets from the project with the PANGEA database. This will make the information available for next-generation model experiments under further European initiatives. Further research is planned, using transient model experimentation with data over the last millennium.
