Palaeo Proxies:
The limitations of temperature estimates from before the invention of thermometers, based on “palaeo proxies.”
- It calls the claims that a specific day was the warmest in over 100,000 years as scientifically unfounded.
- Palaeo proxies, short for paleoclimate proxies, are indirect pieces of evidence that scientists use to infer past climate conditions.
- Since instrumental climate records (such as thermometer measurements) are only available for a relatively short period, usually a few hundred years, scientists rely on various natural sources to reconstruct climate conditions over longer timescales.
- To estimate past temperatures, scientists also use isotopes that undergo steady radioactive decay.
- The proxies can help in understanding the response of modern humans to climate change.
- However, such proxies are not suitable for estimating daily temperatures.
- Climate change is best understood over longer timescales, and making alarmist claims about daily records can jeopardize the credibility of climate action efforts.
