1956: “A Theory of Ice Ages.”Maurice Ewing and W.I. Donn, Science. Began a long tradition at Lamont of investigating the cause of climate variability.
1960: “Natural radiocarbon in the Atlantic Ocean.” Wallace Broecker et al., Journal of Geophysical Research.
A major advance in understanding the movements of deep ocean waters, this set Lamont on the path of using natural and manmade tracers to investigate the oceans’ linkages with the climate system.
1966: “Paleomagnetic study of Antarctic deep-sea cores.” N.D. Opdyke et al. Science. This study showed that reversals of earth’s magnetic field, combined with microfossils, could be used to accurately date deep-sea sediments back beyond 2 million years. Prior to this, the limit, based on the isotope carbon 14, was only 25,000 years. This set the stage for serious tests of theories of climate change in the more distant past.
1976: “The surface of the ice-age Earth.” CLIMAP, Science. Reconstructed the Sea Surface Temperature [SST] at the height of the last glaciation. This is the first time that a global reconstruction of the earth's surface temperature had been attempted for a time when climate was markedly different than today’s. Subsequent research at Lamont has refined reconstructions of SST.
1976: “Variations in Earth’s orbit—Pacemaker of ice ages.” J.D. Hays et al, Science. Established to most people's satisfaction that orbital variations control at least the timing of changes from glacial to interglacial time.
1978: “The Marine oxygen isotope record in Pleistocene Coral, Barbados, West Indies.” Richard Fairbanks et al., Quaternary Research. Documented the magnitude and rapidity of sea level rises at the end of the last glaciation.
1986: “Experimental Forecasts of El Niño.”Mark Cane, Steve Zebiak et al., Nature. The first successful attempt to predict El Niño—a cyclical event in the Pacific Ocean that controls rainfall over vast regions of land.
1986: “Inter-Ocean Exchange of Thermocline Water.” Arnold Gordon, Journal of Geophysical Research. Investigated the linkage of thermocline flow between oceans as part of the global scale thermohaline circulation, suggesting a role of interocean exchange in climate variability.
1986: “A 40-million-year lake record of early Mesozoic climatic forcing.” P.E. Olsen, Science. Demonstrated that changes in earth’s orbit left a mark in climate during the distant past, as they did in the recent glacial epoch.
1987: “Age Dating and the Orbital Theory of the Ice Ages--Development of a High-Resolution-0 to 300,000-Year Chronostratigraphy. “ Douglas Martinson et al, Quaternary Research. Established a reliable chronology of climate events over the last 300,000 years.
1989: “The role of ocean-atmosphere reorganizations in glacial cycles.”Wallace Broecker and George Denton, Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta. Explored the role of freshwater inflow into the northern North Atlantic, via melting ice, in governing the oceanic “conveyor belt,” and its possible association with large-scale climate change.
1989: “17,000 year glacio-eustatic sea level record: influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation.” Richard Fairbanks, Nature. Further documented the magnitude and rapidity of the sea-level rise associated with the end of the last glaciation.
1994: “Forecasting Zimbabwean Maize Yield Using Eastern Equatorial Pacific Sea-Surface Temperature.” Mark Cane et al,, Nature. Cyclical climate-related phenomena such as El Nino and the associated Southern Oscillation (ENSO) take place in the Pacific, but areas far distant can feel their influence, affecting regional economies. This paper explored the relationship, and predictability, of climate variability to societal issues in terms of Zimbabwe’s vital maize crop, which has suffered drought-induced famines linked to ENSO.
1994: “Interdecadal variations in North-Atlantic sea-surface temperatures and associated atmospheric conditions.” Yochanan Kushnir, Journal of Climate. Presented evidence for a pattern of ocean-atmosphere relationships associated with decade-scale variability in the North Atlantic region. This was followed by many other works that defined scales of climate variability associated with the ocean.
1995: “Plio-Pleistocene African climate,” Peter deMenocal, Science.This paper connected the evolution of humans with a shift toward more arid conditions in the African climate after 2.8 million years ago. It was one of the earlier Lamont papers showing climate’s effects upon humans.
1995: “Temperature histories from tree rings and corals.” Edward Cook, Climate Dynamics. This study presented temperature trends over the past 1,000 years using signs left by tree rings and corals. Many more such studies have followed, in different regions of the world.
2000: “Climate change and the collapse of the Akkadian Empire: Evidence from the deep-sea.” Heidi Cullen, Peter deMenocal et al., Geology. Linked the collapse of the Middle Eastern Akkadian empire, around 4,200 years ago, to an abrupt, prolonged drought.
2001: “Persistent solar influence on north Atlantic climate during the Holocene.” Gerard Bond et al., Science 294 (5549): 2130-2136. Demonstrated that climate change variations measured in hundreds to thousands of is driven in large part by solar variability.
2002: “Global sea-air CO2 flux based on climatological surface ocean pCO2, and seasonal biological and temperature effects.” Taro Takahashi T., et al.,Deep-Sea Research Part II-Topical Studies in Oceanography. Mapped for the first time on a global scale the exchange of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and ocean.
2004: “Long-Term Aridity Changes in the Western United States.” Edward Cook et al., Science. Using tree rings, showed that an ongoing drought in the U.S. Southwest pales in comparison to one about 1,000 years ago. The paper suggested that the region is extremely vulnerable to disastrous drying during periods of climate warming.
2007: “Model Projections of an imminent transition to a more arid climate in southwestern North America.” Richard Seager et al., Science. Showed a broad consensus among climate models that the American southwest will dry significantly in the 21st century, and that the long-term transition to a more arid climate may already be underway.
2008: “In Situ Carbonation of Peridotite for CO2 Storage.” Peter Kelemen and Juerg Matter, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Demonstrates a method for solidifying and locking away excess atmospheric carbon dioxide in rocks by speeding natural chemical reactions 1,000 times over.
2009: “Reconstruction of the History of Anthropogenic CO2 Concentrations in the Ocean.” Samar Khatiwala and Tim Hall, Nature. Demonstrates that the world oceans are losing their ability to absorb rising human emissions of carbon, taking in a shrinking proportion since 2000; the first year-by year reconstruction of how oceans have absorbed carbon since the start of the industrial age.
