Welcome to INTIMATE network web page

INTIMATE network

The objective of INTIMATE is to reconstruct past abrupt and extreme climate changes over the period 60,000 to 8000 years ago, by facilitating INTegration of Ice-core, MArine, and TErrestrial palaeoclimate records and using the combined data in climate models to better understand the mechanisms and impact of change, thereby reducing the uncertainty of future prediction. Past climate and environmental data provide critical tests of global and regional climate models. While there are a small number of high profile records, such as the Greenland ice cores, which are critical for informing on the dynamic nature of past climate change, determining the nature of regional to local scale climate impacts is key to understanding the complexities of climate change.

Central to INTIMATE research is the comparison of palaeo-climate and -environmental records based on their independent timescales. Such an approach provides valuable insights into leads/lags in the global climate system and the interactions between, and environmental responses to, different climate forcing mechanisms. The robust integration of quantified palaeo-environmental data provides critical tests of global and regional climate models, which will improve our ability to model future climate change and ecosystem response.

INTIMATE activities cover w wide range of topics and formats. As an open network, we bring together international palaeo-climate Scientists from a wide range of disciplines, to focus on developing innovative past climate recostruction tools and methods. We particularly value the contribution of early career researchers in the network and run a biennial simmer school „An INTIMATE Example”, which brings together new and existing members of a network in a collaborative research and training environment.