Quaternary QUEST
Quaternary QUEST is led by Prof Tim Lenton at the University of East Anglia, with a team of 10 co-investigators at UEA, the Open University and the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Reading, Leeds, Bristol and Southampton.
Over the last million years, Earth has experienced a sequence of temperature oscillations between glacial and interglacial states, linked to variations in the Earth’s orbit around the sun. These climate oscillations were accompanied by changes in atmospheric CO2, but the fundamental reasons for this relationship are still unresolved.
This project team will compile a synthesis of palaeodata from sediments and ice cores, improve the synchronization of these records with each other, and use this greater understanding of the Earth’s ancient atmosphere to improve Earth system models simulating climate over very long timescales. For more information see our Research overview