DIVING INTO 540 MILLION YEARS OF CLIMATE WITH CHRONOZOOM

ChronoZoom is an open-source visualization tool for exploring all of the past using an intuitive and friendly zoomable user interface. We have recently added the ability to display large time-series data sets across the 13.7 billion years capable in ChronoZoom.

As a demonstration of the new time-series capability, we have assembled a temperature history of the Earth for the last 540 million years. Many different paleoclimate proxies are available, however, each covers vastly different time scales, making synthesis and display of trends across these datasets difficult. The zoomable interface of ChronoZoom is an ideal way of visualizing, exploring and comparing these paleoclimate data sets.

We have compiled the most commonly used paleoclimate proxy data from the literature based on oxygen isotopes from the fossil record (last 540 Myr), oxygen isotopes in benthic foraminifera compiled from ocean cores (last 65 Myr), high-resolution oxygen isotopes from ocean cores (last 5.3 Myr), oxygen isotopes from Greenland and Antarctica ice cores (up to last 720 kyr), multi-proxy records (last 2000 years), and compiled instrumental records (last 250 years). For oxygen isotope records we use a method to convert an isotopic value to an estimated temperature. We realize that there are many interpretations and have made an effort to allow the user to choose their preferred data.

This newly formed data set has a combined resolution that spans ten orders of magnitude. Exploring paleoclimate data within ChronoZoom enables educators and students to better communicate and understand global climate at all scales, ranging from months to billions of years.