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"The present is the key to the past"

Uniformitarianism; James Hutton

..can the past also be the key to the future?

The Sellwood Group for Palaeo-Climatology (SGPC)

SGPC formed in 2009 and is named after the late Professor Bruce William Sellwood (1946 to 2007) who helped establish the UK as a forerunner in palaeoclimate research and palaeoclimate modelling. Using both computer simulation models and proxy data the group blends climatology, oceanography, palaeontology, sedimentology, geochemistry and glaciology in order to understand the evolution of our planets climate and environment. An assessment of the ability of current climate models to retrodict past climate enables us to assess the predictive abilities of these models which, in the context of future climate change, is vital.

SGPC Latest News

SGPC @ The Royal Meterological Society hosted a meeting examining how dramatic natural variations in climate are being reconstructed from the geological record.

The meeting presented climate model simulations for a number of radically different climate states in Earth history, when atmospheric CO2 concentrations were similar or even much higher than they are today. It described how combined geological and climate modelling studies are attempting to lift the veil on the complex nature of our planet's climate and environmental history, which tells us about the sensitivity of the climate system to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases.

SGPC University of Leeds British Geological Survey PRISM BRIDGE UK Polar Network Leicester University NCAS Antarctic Climate Evolution PMIP2 Met Office