Nicholas A O'Mara, Yale University, Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, New Haven, CT, United States, Peter deMenocal, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, United States, Kevin T Uno, Harvard University, Human and Evolutionary Biology, Cambridge, MA, United States, Jessica E Tierney, University of Arizona, Department of Geosciences, Tucson, AZ, United States, Gisela Winckler, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, New York, United States, Jennifer Marlon, Yale University, School of the Environment, New Haven, United States and Pratigya J Polissar, University of California Santa Cruz, Ocean Sciences, Santa Cruz, United States