Quaternary Climate: Recent Findings and Future Challenges

A PAGES-supported open meeting, titled "Quaternary Climate: Recent Findings and Future Challenges", will be held 28-30 April 2016 at the National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa, India.

Meeting background

Rationale Quaternary, the ongoing period, is marked by alternating glacial-interglacial cycles. It provides a perfect setting to understand earth’s response not only to long-term orbital changes, but also short-term fluctuations driven by internal feedback mechanisms, within limited boundary conditions.

Reconstruction of Quaternary climate is also important to understand anthropogenic influence on earth’s climate. Both, terrestrial and marine archives are being used to reconstruct Quaternary climate. Even though, initially, a lot of emphasis was towards qualitative reconstruction of past climatic changes, of late, the focus has shifted to quantification of key climate parameters during the past with the development of stable isotopic and elemental ratios as proxies.

Additionally, an understanding of the regional bias on the relationship between a proxy and its ambient conditions, has led to evaluation and development of proxies through thorough field observations and laboratory experiments.

In this conference, we invite contributions on reconstruction of Quaternary climate from the terrestrial as well as marine archives and also those on proxy development. A dedicated session will discuss future directions in Quaternary climate studies, especially in the context of the Indian subcontinent and adjoining seas.

Meeting outline

The conference will include a few invited lectures by senior researchers providing an in-depth review of the status of Quaternary climate reconstruction from various archives. The contributory oral/poster presentations will provide insight into our recent understanding of the Quaternary climate as well as advancements in development and evaluation of proxies to reconstruct past climates.

Suggestions on unresolved questions are invited to improve our understanding of the climatic changes during Quaternary, with a special emphasis on Indian subcontinent and its adjacent seas. A session will also be dedicated to the role of climatic changes in shaping ancient civilizations.

Participation

This conference is useful for both experienced researchers who can share their views on our understanding of Quaternary climate as well as active young researchers who can discuss their new findings with the participants involved in reconstructing Quaternary climatic changes. The proposed discussion on unresolved questions on Quaternary climate is intended to help the global fraternity with the same goal. The participation of final year masters’ students interested in pursuing research in paleoclimatic studies, by invitation, is encouraged. The achaeologists are welcome to participate and present their findings regarding the influence of climatic changes in shaping the fate of human civilizations.

Registrations

Registration fee: MSc/PhD students - Nil; Others - Rs. 2500.

Masters students nominated by their respective Heads of Departments will be provided travel support and accommodation. A partial financial support will also be provided to students pursuing PhD and early-career researchers.

Venue details

The conference will be held at the National Institute of Oceanography, situated in Dona Paula, Goa. The participants can reach the National Institute of Oceanography, from any one of the nearby railway stations, namely Thivim, Karmali, Vasco-de-Gama or Madgaon. Both the pre-paid taxis, as well as buses are available at all of these railway stations. The nearest airport is Dabolim with direct flights from all major cities of India.

Weather in Goa Goa has pleasant weather during April, with average daytime temperature being around 32-34°C. Even though it is slightly humid, there is hardly any rain during April.

Important deadlines

Abstract submission: 31 March 2016
Acceptance of Abstracts: 15 April 2016
Registration: 20 April 2016

Further details

For more information, contact the event organizer:
Dr. Rajeev Saraswat
Senior Scientist
Micropaleontology Laboratory
Geological Oceanography Division
National Institute of Oceanography
Dona Paula 403 004
Goa, INDIA
E-mail: rsaraswatnio.org (rsaraswat[at]nio[dot]org); rs.nioggmail.com (rs[dot]niog[at]gmail[dot]com)