Ryan Bay
Physics Department
University of California at Berkeley
Abstract:
Recent advances in ice coring have expanded fine structure in the climate record of the last 50,000 years, including the erratic glaciation cycles of the last ice age. Methods for detecting faint ash depositions and for precision cross-dating between cores have enabled us to apply pattern recognition in discriminating planet wide eruptive incidents which appear causally related to the abrupt cooling phases. These developments are shedding new light on an old debate over the interplay of volcanic activity and millennial climate change.