Ancient shellfish remains rewrite 10,000-year history of El Niño cycles

ancient clam shells — Ancient clam shells from middens help scientists piece together past-climate regimes.

Scientists by their very nature are inquisitive and creative, often figuring out novel ways to answer complex and perplexing questions. In a paper recently released in Science, College of the Environment oceanographer Julian Sachs and colleagues use ancient clam shells to peer into the past and piece together a 10,000 year history of climate driven by the El Niño Southern Oscillation. Their findings challenge some common assumptions about the historical activity of El Niño, which has long been know to be a driver of climate worldwide.