Editing Paleoclimatology (section)

== Synthesizing the Record ==

By analyzing sediment cores, paleoclimatologists have been able to reconstruct Earth's climate tens of millions of years into the past—back to periods like the Pliocene or the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), when the planet was significantly warmer and CO2 levels were much higher. 

Combining the deep-time perspective of ocean sediments, the precise atmospheric records of ice cores, and the high-resolution terrestrial data from tree rings allows scientists to track orbital forcing (Milankovitch cycles), identify abrupt climate shifts, and validate the General Circulation Models (GCMs) used to predict future climate scenarios. Ultimately, paleoclimatology demonstrates that while Earth's climate has changed dramatically in the past, the current rate of anthropogenic warming is largely unprecedented in the geological record.