Research Centre for Palaeoclimatology

The earth's climate is constantly changing. However, it has only been during the past few hundred years that those changes have been understood through observation. Throughout the long history of the earth, the climate has repeatedly undergone great upheaval beyond human imagination. Identify what happened in the past, analyze the cause of the change, and consider what could happen in the future. Research Centre for Palaeoclimatology was established in April 2014 to promote that type of research.

The Centre is particularly adept at detailed reproduction of climate using varved sediment. In the past, geological research has focused mainly on long periods of time, tens of thousands of years or hundreds of millions of years. However, what is compelling to humans is the changes that occur in a short period of time, a few years or a few decades. Varved sediment, which records events on a yearly basis, is optimal to understanding such truly rapid change.

Detailed palaeoclimatalogical data is critical to checking the precision of climate models that are used to predict future occurrences. The Research Centre for Palaeoclimatology will continue its research in order to understand the past and future more accurately.