Material Detail

This fact sheet, published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), discusses the influence of the California Current on the climate of the western United States. Topics include the influence of atmospheric pressure cells in the eastern North Pacific and the examination of sediments in core samples to obtain a high-resolution paleoclimatic record. The discussion points out that the geologic record preserved in the cores can be correlated across western North America, and that low-oxygen conditions on the sea floor offshore California are ideal for the preservation of annual sediment layers. It concludes with the assertion that these core samples can be used in place of direct measurements, and that this evidence indicates that a shift in climate patterns has occurred over the eastern North Pacific Ocean.

Disciplines:

• Science and Technology  / Geoscience  / Geology