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CLUES FROM THE PAST UNRAVEL THE CLIMATE OF THE FUTURE
23 June 2005

A workshop entitled Reconstructing past climates for future prediction: Integrating high-resolution palaeo-data for meaningful prediction in the Australasian region will be held at the Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, on Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 June.

The two-day workshop, jointly funded by the Australian Greenhouse Office and the Australian Research Council, will provide a forum for prominent Australian and international climatologists and modellers to focus on new ideas, observations, analyses and theories of climate change. The aim of the workshop is to highlight ways in which to improve the understanding and prediction of future climate change and variability in the Australasian region.

'Clues to understanding our future climate are hidden in the past,' said Dr Mike Manton from the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre in Melbourne.

Records of climate from past millennia have been extracted from laminated sediments in lakes and oceans, ice cores from glaciers and ice caps, skeletons of tropical coral reefs, tree rings and bore holes in the ground. These records reveal important information about how Australasia's climate changed before historical records began 200 years ago.

'The information collected from proxy records can be directly applied to the modern world. It can help us understand natural climate variations and how humans have influenced the Earth's climate system,' Dr Manton said.

Workshop convenor Dr Chris Turney from the University of Wollongong said, 'These indicators of past climate show rapid changes have taken place, even within the last few hundred years.

'This meeting will allow us to place Australian records in a global context and it gives us an opportunity to fully understand natural climate variability. We hope the data will improve our ability to predict climate change and help Australia prepare for such changes in the future.'

Media are invited to attend the workshop at the Australian Academy of Science's Shine Dome, Canberra, on Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 June.

The full program, including abstracts, is available at www.uow.edu.au/conferences/canberra