The IPL and its members are dedicated to using the biological, chemical, and physical properties of lake sediment to reconstruct long-term and recent patterns of climate change in the Intermontane region of the western United States, the central Canadian Arctic and the Ohio River Valley.

Lakes are extremely sensitive to local and regional environmental change and the archival material contained within the lake basins, i.e. sediment, are rich source of information that can provided detailed histories of past environmental conditions (see Porinchu and MacDonald, 2003).

Our primary goals at the IPL involve identifying the forcing factors behind long-term and recent climate change, and to trace the impact of these changes on natural ecosystems and people.

David Porinchu