Topic VI - Paleoclimate > VI-2-Identifying climate extremes from lake archives

Conveners

1. Tim Cohen (School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Australia)
2. Nicolas Waldmann (Dr Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences, University of Haifa, Israel)
3. Alexander Francke (School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences, University of Adelaide, Australia)
4. Kristian Vasskog (Department of Geography, University of Bergen, Norway)

The analysis of lake sediment archives provides valuable insights into past climate conditions, offering a rich resource for understanding the drivers of long-term climate variability and identifying extreme climate events. This session will focus on innovative methodologies for identifying climate extremes from lake archives, particularly through the use of multi-proxy data, high-resolution sediment cores, and advanced geochemical techniques. We will explore how changes in lake sediment composition, microfossil assemblages, stable isotopes, and elemental concentrations can be leveraged to reconstruct past climate extremes such as droughts, floods, and temperature anomalies. Additionally, we will highlight case studies that demonstrate how lake records can be used to assess the frequency, intensity, and duration of past extreme events. This session invites contributions from researchers working on lake sediment archives, climate reconstruction, and paleoclimate modeling, to foster discussion on the methods, challenges, and future directions of this emerging field.