PAGES - Past Global Changes

Welcome to PAGES

The PAGES (Past Global Changes) project is an international effort to coordinate and promote past global change research. The primary objective is to improve our understanding of past changes in the Earth system in order to improve projections of future climate and environment, and inform strategies for sustainability. ... more

PAGES is open and inclusive to all scientists interested in past global changes. In February 2017, PAGES' parent organization Future Earth published a statement affirming its commitment to supporting international collaboration and the free movement of scientists and flow of data, information and knowledge for global sustainability. PAGES fully supports the Future Earth statement.

PAGES is funded by the US National Science Foundation and the Swiss Academy of Sciences, and supported in-kind by the University of Bern, Switzerland. It is a Global Research Project of Future Earth and a scientific partner of WCRP.

New ECN blog posts

Details: Published: Monday, 18 June 2018 12:43

New and recent contributions to the PAGES Early-Career Network (ECN) blog, The Early Pages.

1. They are headliners of paleoceanography, but virtually unknown to the general public - meet the tiny organisms called foraminifera! Robyn Granger shares how these microscopical shells cause her confusion and back pain, but also keep her entertained.

2. Aritina Haliuc talks about newspapers as records for extreme weather events and how they complement natural archives and instrumental data.

3. Heather Plumpton shares her experiences and views on the underlying reasons for doing climate research and how to make a real difference in policy and people's lives by applying a co-production approach.

If you are an early-career researcher and would like to write a science story or share your views and experiences for The Early Pages, email your idea to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Fed up with paper? VIP!

Details: Published: Thursday, 14 June 2018 09:40

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Are you fed up with paper?

Or can't live without it?

Please let us know!

Do you receive, or have access to, a hard copy of the Past Global Changes Magazine? PAGES is currently assessing its finances and would like to hear from you if you think we should continue printing the magazine, or if you would be happy to read it online. (Access all previous online issues here.)

Please send your feedback by 31 August, using the subject line "Survey - Past Global Changes Magazine", to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Read the latest e-news

Details: Published: Wednesday, 13 June 2018 17:25

Read about the latest PAGES' news, meetings and opportunities from around the world in this month's e-news.

Highlights include a call for feedback (by 31 August) on the future of the printed Past Global Changes Magazine, PAGES' working group and ECN updates, new products, and extensive IPCC and IPBES updates.

IPCC Task Group, Data Support

Details: Published: Wednesday, 13 June 2018 15:38

The IPCC Task Group on Data Support for Climate Change Assessments (TG-Data) - formerly Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impact and Climate Analysis (TGICA) - are currently accepting nominations for experts to serve as TG-Data Co-Chairs as well as members of the Task Group.

More information about TG-Data and the roles and responsibilities of its members can be found in the Terms of Reference (.pdf).

To nominate yourself, please complete the nomination form (.xlsx) and send it, together with a CV, to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. at Future Earth no later than Monday 6 August 2018. Future Earth will then forward all accepted nominations to the IPCC Bureau, who will make the final selection.

Past Land Use and Land Cover

Details: Published: Thursday, 07 June 2018 17:42

Past Global Changes Magazine vol. 26 (1)

The latest issue of Past Global Changes Magazine, titled "Past Land Use and Land Cover", is now available to read and download.

Guest edited by Marie-José Gaillard, Nicki Whitehouse, Marco Madella and Kathleen Morrison, this issue emphasizes the need for appropriate reconstructions of past land-use and land-cover change to study the effect of past anthropogenic land-cover change on climate (the land-use forcing) using Earth System Models. It also highlights how land-use and land-cover change over past millennia can be reconstructed at local to regional and continental scales using the results of archaeological studies combined with model-based quantification of past plant cover from fossil pollen data.

This publication is a product of PAGES' LandCover6k working group.

Regional paleoclimate modeling

Details: Published: Thursday, 07 June 2018 12:51

The PAGES 2k Network project PALEOLINK recently published their first paper on perspectives of regional paleoclimate modeling.

Authors Patrick Ludwig et al. present a review of the added value of the regional climate modeling approach within the scope of paleoclimate research and discuss the current major challenges and perspectives. Two time periods serve as an example: the Holocene, including the Last Millennium, and the Last Glacial Maximum.

They believe regional climate models provide a clear benefit to answer fundamental paleoclimate research questions and may be key to advance a meaningful joint interpretation of climate model and proxy data.

Access the paper, published in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, here. Find out more about the project and sign up to the mailing list here.