Welcome to PAGES

The PAGES (Past Global Changes) project is an international effort to coordinate and promote past global change research. The primary objective is to improve our understanding of past changes in the Earth system in order to improve projections of future climate and environment, and inform strategies for sustainability. ... more

PAGES is open and inclusive to all scientists interested in past global changes. In February 2017, PAGES' parent organization Future Earth published a statement affirming its commitment to supporting international collaboration and the free movement of scientists and flow of data, information and knowledge for global sustainability. PAGES fully supports the Future Earth statement.

PAGES is funded by the US National Science Foundation and the Swiss Academy of Sciences, and supported in-kind by the University of Bern, Switzerland. It is a Global Research Project of Future Earth and a scientific partner of WCRP.

Media interest in VICS paper

Details: Published: Thursday, 19 October 2017 17:32

This week's VICS working group paper "Volcanic suppression of Nile summer flooding triggers revolt and constrains interstate conflict in ancient Egypt", published in Nature Communications, is attracting worldwide media attention.

Authors Joseph Manning, Francis Ludlow, Alexander Stine, William Boos, Michael Sigl and Jennifer Marlon show that the lack of critically important summer flooding in Ptolemaic Egypt (305–30 BCE) correlates with volcanic eruptions, leading to societal unrest.

See how the world media has been covering the story, by clicking the orange "Media coverage" tab, here.

Read the latest e-news

Details: Published: Wednesday, 18 October 2017 12:57

Read about the latest PAGES' news, meetings and opportunities from around the world in this month's e-news.

Eruptions and Egyptian unrest

Details: Published: Tuesday, 17 October 2017 17:01

vics paper volc ptolemaic Members of PAGES Volcanic Impacts on Climate and Society (VICS) working group believe volcanic eruptions, climate change and the absence of Nile summer flooding caused upheaval in ancient Egypt.

Joseph Manning et al. investigate the impact of eruptive volcanism on the Nile’s ability to flood in their paper "Volcanic suppression of Nile summer flooding triggers revolt and constrains interstate conflict in ancient Egypt" published in Nature Communications today.

The authors combine volcano–climate numerical modeling, ice-core catalogued eruption timings, ancient Egyptian documentation of socio-economic behaviour, and recordings from the Islamic Nilometer (an ancient history of Nile water levels) in their study, which shows that the lack of critically important summer flooding in Ptolemaic Egypt (305–30 BCE) correlates with volcanic eruptions, leading to societal unrest.

"That’s the beauty of these climate records," said Manning. "For the first time, you can actually see a dynamic society in Egypt, not just a static description of a bunch of texts in chronological order. This is of absolutely enormous importance."

Access the paper here. Access all additional information related to this paper, including press releases, the Future Earth blog article, images and FAQs here.

D-O-uble delight for Fischer

Details: Published: Wednesday, 11 October 2017 10:19

fischer oeschger web PAGES congratulates former co-chair Hubertus Fischer on being awarded the 2018 Hans Oeschger Medal, which will be presented at the EGU 2018 General Assembly in Austria in April.

Fischer, who finished his tenure with PAGES at the end of 2016, topped the nominees for outstanding achievements in ice research and/or short term climatic changes (past, present, future). He is pictured celebrating with University of Bern colleagues and students on 10 October.

It tops off an excellent year so far for Fischer, who will also be presented with the Willi Dansgaard Award at the AGU Fall Meeting in New Orleans, USA, in December. We believe it is the first time someone has won both awards within one year and have appropriately named it the D-O-uble (as Dansgaard-Oeschger events are often abbreviated as D–O events).

In his usual modest style, Fischer said he was very humbled and proud to receive this second honor so soon.

Reminder! IPCC AR6

Details: Published: Tuesday, 10 October 2017 15:14

This is a reminder to submit to PAGES by 14 October!

PAGES' parent organization Future Earth is collating nominations for Lead Authors, Coordinating Lead Authors and Expert Reviewers for the IPCC's 6th Assessment Report (AR6) and paleoscience needs your voice.

Read the agreed chapter outlines for AR6 for Working Group I - The Physical Science Basis; Working Group II - Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability; and Working Group III - Mitigation of Climate Change. Paleoscience will not have its own chapter, but will be embedded in all chapters.

If you are willing to take a leading role in AR6 or would like to suggest colleagues that should take part in the writing of AR6, fill out the relevant Working Group nomination form (below) and send, along with a CV (pdf, in English, less than four pages) to PAGES Executive Director This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 14 October 2017.

Guest scientist at PAGES IPO

Details: Published: Tuesday, 10 October 2017 14:44

PAGES International Project Office is pleased to welcome guest scientist Professor Giri Kattel to the Bern office for the next two weeks.

Kattel is in Switzerland to continue work on various Aquatic Transitions working group projects and meet with local scientists in his field. He aims to finish the first draft of an upcoming paper on the ecological resilience of South East Asian lakes, from a paleoscience perspective, during his stay.

Currently a Visiting Professor under the CAS-PIFI program in Nanjing, China, Kattel is working on paleolimnology, resilience and climate change in upland and lowland lakes and floodplain systems in China. He will return to The University of Melbourne, Australia, in January 2018.