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The Earth's climate has changed greatly through geologic time, and even
in recent centuries. The study of past climates is called paleoclimatology
("paleo-" means "early" or "past").
Something that represents something else indirectly is called a proxy.
In some elections, a voter can choose another person to cast the vote.
That vote is called a proxy. There are many proxies for past climate.
They provide a lot of information, although none is perfect. Some, like
kinds of past plants and animals, are easy to understand. Some important
proxies, involving the chemical element oxygen, are more difficult to
understand.
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©
NOAA
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The example above demonstrates how historical
grape harvest dates were used to reconstruct summer temperatures
(April - September) in Paris from 1370 - 1879.
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