1,2,3,5,6- 1Earth & Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC, USA (jkasbohm@carnegiescience.edu)
- 2MARUM, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
- 3Earth Sciences, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, USA
- 4Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA
- 5School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
- 6Earth Sciences, University College London, London, UK
Age models for many sediment records are imprecise at best and inaccurate at worst, hindering our ability to closely compare different proxy records, track variations in regional responses to climate change, and understand how Earth’s climate sensitivity changed through time. We must tackle the challenge of imprecise age models if we are to make significant advances in paleoclimatic reconstructions and near-future climate projections. A coordinated, global, cross-disciplinary research network is required to address the immense challenges of establishing accurate age calibrations for sedimentary records covering the past 100 million years of Earth's climate history.
We have launched an international, coordinated effort to revise, recalibrate, and synchronize the dating tools available to paleoclimatologists – i.e., local and regional information obtained from chemo-, bio- and magnetostratigraphy, as well as radioisotopic geochronology – by unifying these approaches with astrochronology. Synchronizing proxy data at orbital-scale resolution is critical as it allows for detailed reconstructions of climate variability and for resolving the sequence of events in climate-relevant processes over millions of years in the past. Our nascent initiative, the Time-Integrated Matrix for Earth Sciences (TIMES) program, will facilitate the interaction of the climate proxy and modeling communities with the timescale-generating community and astronomers, to deliver highly synchronized, accurate, and precise timelines for these sedimentary climate records.
We will share insights from our Kickoff Workshop in August 2025, at which the TIMES working group began defining key components of a Science Plan for the first five-year long phase of TIMES. We invite further involvement of members of the timescale- and proxy-generating communities, as well as climate modelers, to contribute to our efforts to tackle this colossal scientific challenge as we build our inclusive international collaboration.
How to cite: Kasbohm, J., Westerhold, T., Lam, A., Hönisch, B., Drury, A. J., and Tangunan, D.: Launching TIMES: A Time-Integrated Matrix for Earth Sciences, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-14840, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-14840, 2026.
