Final answer:
To learn about historical climate change, climatologists use a variety of methods such as examining written records, analyzing proxies like tree rings and ice cores and interpreting geologic and fossil records.
Step-by-step explanation:
To study the history of climate change, historical climatologists use a variety of methods, including:
- Examining written records such as weather journals and tax records that reference crop yields and weather fluctuations.
- Interpreting geologic and fossil records to understand past climates and their changes through time.
- Using proxies like fossils, foraminifera coils, and sediment cores to infer past environmental conditions.
These methods are cross-disciplinary, involving paleo-scientists and historians, and are critical for understanding demographic and ecological transformations caused by climate changes in history.