Synoptic Paleoclimatology
The Weather Regime Approach from the Tropics to the Poles

By interpreting the natural climate archive, this book reconstructs past weather and projects future regional weather and climate patterns.

Ian D. Goodwin (Author)

9781108840842, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 September 2025

776 pages
26 x 18.4 x 4.5 cm, 1.63 kg

Ian Goodwin's 'Synoptic Paleoclimatology' is a breathtaking and fascinating read, a truly global overview that skillfully combines climatology, oceanography, glaciology and many other geoscientific disciplines in masterly ways to present a comprehensive overview of global synoptic paleoclimatology in all its facets and in the best Humboldtian sense. The specific and refreshing Southern Hemisphere perspective on global circulation, newly and knowledgeably compiled, makes the book a must-read for scientists and students from the Southern Hemisphere and for anyone with a specific research interest in the tropics and the southern latitudes. Also, readers with a specific interest in the interaction of glaciation and synoptic paleoclimatology in the Southern Hemisphere will find this volume a comprehensive and invaluable compendium of the state of the art. Christoph Schneider, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Projecting regional climate change over this century and the next remains challenging due to the chaotic nature of weather, but it is made more reliable through reconstructions of paleoweather in relation to climate change in atmospheric and ocean circulation, winds, waves, currents, and precipitation. This primer applies a cross-disciplinary treatment of large-scale and synoptic climatology to the reconstruction of past climates under the umbrella of synoptic paleoclimatology, providing the theory and application of synoptic paleoclimatology for the study and prediction of future climate evolution. Climate proxy and data–model assimilation methodologies are described in detail, focusing on coasts, the surface ocean, glaciers, and ice sheets. This book also presents a state-of-the-art synthesis of regional climate history across the Southern Hemisphere, including tropical coral reefs, coasts, alpine glaciers, and Antarctica. This book will be invaluable to advanced students, researchers, and practitioners in climatology, paleoclimatology, meteorology, coastal geoscience, glaciology, oceanography, global change, and climate risk assessment.

Preface
Acknowledgements
Part I. Atmosphere–Ocean Circulation and Synoptic Paleoclimatology
1. A Synoptic View of Paleoclimate
2. Atmosphere–Ocean Circulation, Heat and Moisture Budgets
Part II. Synoptic Circulation and Weather Regimes
3. Large-Scale to Synoptic Circulation of the Southern Hemisphere
4. Regional Ocean Wind, Wave, and Sea-Level Climate of the Southern Hemisphere
5. Regional Climate and Weather Regimes
Part III. Synoptic Paleoclimate from the Natural Archive – Environmental Impact to PaleoWeather Regimes
6. The Coastal Geomorphic Archive of Ocean Wave Climate and Paleoweather
7. The Tropical Archive of Marine Paleoweather, Climate, and Sea Level
8. The Tropical to Subantarctic Glacial Archive and Response to Weather and Climate
9. Tropical to Subantarctic Regional Glacier–Weather Regime Relationships and Glacial History
10. The Ice Core Archive Part 1: Hydroclimate, Stable Isotopes and Weather Regimes
11. The Ice Core Archive Part 2: Aerosol Tracers to Air Mass Trajectories and Weather Regimes
Part IV. Synoptic Paleoclimate Reconstruction, Data–Model Assimilation, and Causal Networks
12. Paleoclimate Reconstruction Part 1: Data–Model Assimilation Approaches
13. Paleoclimate Reconstruction Part 2: Advances in Defining Large-Scale Circulation Evolution
References
Index

Subject Areas: Meteorology & climatology [RBP]