Dr. Mark A Cane

other websites: http://iri.ldeo.columbia.edu/people/mcane/ http://rainbow.ldeo.columbia.edu/ees/instructors/cane.html Why are there glacial cycles, and why are there abrupt changes in the paleo record apparently unrelated to orbital variations? I think much of the answer lies in the tropics (cf Cane, M.A., 1998, Science, 282, 60-61). Why aren't ENSO forecasts better than they are? How can we apply our (limited) ability to forecast climate to agriculture and to prediction of vector borne disease? If we want to look at decadal and longer climate variability we will have to make the most of limited instrumental coverage -- or none at all. How can we make best use of sparse data, especially paleoproxy data? How is the extratropical ocean connected to the tropics, especially to variations in the equatorial thermocline? How can we combine information from geochemical tracers with ocean models to help answer this and similar questions?