From modest beginnings some 50 years ago, the field of speleothem palaeo-climatology has seen improved analytical capacity produce ever more detailed, well-dated, and highly resolved records of climate proxies such as stable isotope ratios and trace element compositions. The last two decades have seen a great expansion of cave monitoring campaigns designed to improve understanding of the causal links between these proxies and the surface environment. Cave monitoring over a few years provides a wealth of detailed information about the links between local meteorology, soil processes, karst hydrochemistry, ventilation and carbonate precipitation but the crucial challenge lies in using this information to interpret proxy records on much longer timescales, from centennial to glacial-interglacial.

We invite contributions to discuss new developments in measurement and interpretation of speleothem proxies and how proxy-related environmental monitoring can be applied as an interpretive tool in palaeoclimate reconstruction.