Climate changes: impacts on geomorphic processes

Climate is one of the conditions which permits, inhibits, retards or enhances certain responses in the geomorphic environment. Components of climate important to geomorphic processes include (1) the duration and character of climate episodes, i.e., the variation of the various climate parameters during any such period, and (2) the nature of discontinuities at both a climate episodeʹs beginning and end, i.e., the magnitude of change and the rate of change occurring at the time of discontinuity. We will evaluate changes in the climate character over the Holocene, compare that to that observed during the instrumental period and, in turn, compare to predicted changes for an atmosphere with twice todayʹs carbon dioxide concentration.