Dansgaard-Oeschger events were large and rapid climate transitions that occurred multiple times during the last glacial period. We reconstructed the global pattern during these events using fossil pollen records, and found a north-south antiphasing of temperature change, and reduced seasonality in the northern extratropics. 

Our study of late Miocene–early Pleistocene sedimentary records from the Taiwan Western Foreland Basin and the northern South China Sea found that physical erosion of tropical mountain belts by intense monsoon and tropical cyclone precipitation influences carbon burial by: 1) erosion and burial of organic carbon from land, and 2) supplying nutrients that enhance marine photosynthesis. This work links mountain building and erosion in tropical regions directly to carbon storage in nearby oceans.

Density of seawater is a critical property that controls ocean dynamics. We developed the use of the δ¹⁸O_c of planktonic foraminifera as a surface paleodensity proxy for the ocean using Bayesian regression models calibrated to mean annual surface density. We reconstructed annual surface density during the last glacial maximum and late Holocene time periods. These results will be used to evaluate numerical climate models in their ability to simulate past ocean surface density.

We studied lake sediments from western Norway to reconstruct 10 000 years of snow avalanche activity. Using physical and chemical analyses, we identified periods of increased avalanche frequency linked to climatic shifts in the North Atlantic region. Activity was low during the warm early Holocene but increased sharply in the past 2300 years. Our results suggest that long-term changes in snow avalanches are driven by large-scale patterns in wind and ocean temperatures.

The link between storms and volcanic eruptions in northwest Europe is investigated. Past storminess was reconstructed using sand deposits in a coastal peatbog from western Ireland. Together with similar records from northwest Europe this shows six periods of high storminess in the last 2500 years, coinciding roughly with the largest eruptions of this time. A record of past windiness for Ireland (600–1616 CE) created from the “Irish Annals” supports enhanced storminess for 3 years after eruptions.

The Holocene is marked at 8.2 ka by a North Atlantic freshening event. We investigate its climatic impact in SW France using high-resolution speleothem multiproxy analysis. While the event is seen in some European records, no clear signal appears in SW France. This may reflect either limited regional impact, and/or low speleothem sensitivity to this North Atlantic event, possibly masked by Mediterranean influences.

During a past warm period, we found that the eastern Mediterranean region experienced stronger but shorter rain events, especially in the south. The warming made the air wetter, which helped produce more intense rainfall. Using climate models and recent data, we show how this improves our understanding of future changes in dry regions.

During the Aptian–Albian interval of the Cretaceous, Earth's climate changed significantly due to volcanism, atmospheric shifts, and reorganised ocean circulation. These changes influenced marine sediments, especially reddish Cretaceous oceanic red beds (CORBs), which reflect intervals of deep-ocean oxygenation. This study analysed sediment cores from ODP Site 1049 (North Atlantic) to determine when CORBs formed and whether similar patterns occurred in other basins, such as the Tethys.

Using model simulations, we show that the larger temperature seasonality of the mid Holocene and the last interglacial climates led to marked surficial permafrost thaw during warm summers, while cold winters allowed for permafrost persistence at depth. We argue that past interglacial climates have limited suitability as analogues for future permafrost dynamics, for which we anticipate a trajectory of unprecedented thaw magnitude since at least MIS (Marine Isotope Stage) 11c.