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.

‘Paleoclimatology is a fundamental science for bridging the temporal and spatial gaps in climate observations, a limitation particularly evident in the Southern Hemisphere. Gaining a better understanding of past climate conditions is essential for improving future projections, and doing so requires the integration of knowledge from multiple disciplines: meteorology, oceanography, climatology, paleoclimatology, geomorphology, glaciology, and climate modeling. Aimed at researchers and students interested in studying the climate of the past, present, and future, this volume offers an in-depth review of the scientific literature and presents cutting-edge interdisciplinary insights into the workings of the Earth’s climate system. It is an essential resource for those seeking to understand and model the complexity of global climate with a comprehensive and inclusive view of phenomena acting at different temporal and spatial scales. The multidisciplinary approach of the topics covered in this book is completely innovative.’

Barbara Stenni - Università Ca' Foscari Venezia

‘A thorough, well-researched and referenced overview of synoptic climatology, starting with the history of climate understanding, through to contemporary global circulation and climatology, and the evidence and tools used to studying palaeoclimatology, with a view to using this to model future climatology and its impacts. A must for anyone seriously interested in understanding the drivers of our past, present and future climate.’

Andrew D. Short - University of Sydney

‘The central motivation of this book is to ensure that Southern Hemisphere palaeoclimate archives, ranging from geology to ice cores and coastal records, are fully incorporated into our understanding of the main modes of ocean and atmosphere-circulation and climate evolution. This is achieved through data assimilation and climate models, improving our understanding of future climate states, and underpinning assessments of their impacts. Ian Goodwin is one of very few scientists could knowledgably marshal expertise across such a wide range of disciplines. It is a must-have book for those seeking an in-depth process-based understanding of synoptic palaeoclimatology and our future climate.’

Dominic Hodgson - British Antarctic Survey