Primary Convener:
Laia Andreu-Hayles, ICREA CREAF / Columbia University

Convener:
Mathias Vuille, University at Albany, State University of New York
Bronwen Konecky, Washington University in St Louis
Nathan Stansell, Northern Illinois University

Early Career Convener:
Zhiqiang Lyu, SUNY Albany

Chair:
Bronwen Konecky, Washington University in St Louis
Nathan Stansell, Northern Illinois University

Documenting past and present climate variability is important to obtain a historical baseline for separating externally forced climate change from internal variability. The scarcity of observational climate data provides a challenge for evaluating present-day climate dynamics of the region and its teleconnections to the global climate system. This session welcomes studies based on paleoclimate reconstructions and model simulations over Central and South America, as well as the assessment of climate change impacts on ecosystems and human populations. Increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme events, future projections, changes in duration and spatial extent of the South American Monsoon or the Intertropical Convergence Zone, climate sensitivity of tropical forests, changes in the carbon cycle and glacier mass-balance, El Niño-Southern Oscillation reconstructions and climate impacts related to past volcanic eruptions are some examples of relevant topics. Presentations of new datasets, multidisciplinary methodological advances and novel educational outreach approaches are also welcome.

Index Terms
0439 Ecosystems, structure and dynamics
0473 Paleoclimatology and paleoceanography
1620 Climate dynamics
1630 Impacts of global change

Cross-Listed:
PP - Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology
A - Atmospheric Sciences
B - Biogeosciences

Neighborhoods:
3. Earth Covering