Dr. Diane Thompson and colleagues published a novel wind reconstruction based on coral proxies late last year. The paper, while obviously interesting to my peers and I, also found traction in the broader scientific imagination, and in popular media as well. This was made even more apparent in the latest issue of Nature: Geoscience, which featured a news and views piece by professor Stefan Brönnimann of the University of Bern. His piece was a pleasant review of the utility of considering proxy data vis-à-vis contemporary climate and environmental issues. Most interesting in my opinion, is the concluding sentiments prof. Brönnimann shares on the overlap and necessity of integrating the paleo-perspective with contemporary climate studies:

 

“Increasingly, the realms of palaeoclimatology (which is largely based on proxy reconstruction) and the backward extension of the methods used in modern climatology have started to overlap. Innovative ideas can develop at such an interface, but with this comes the challenge of combining two different perspectives. Collaboration at this particular boundary is not just about reconciling different data sets, but also about the meeting of different scientific cultures… Working in tandem gives both groups the best chance to exchange not only results but also perspectives.”

 

It is clear that seriously integrating the methods, techniques, and perspectives that underlay dynamic and paleo climatology only benefit both fields, and help scientists better understand broad scale geophysical questions.