The
following is from the final decision of the review panel:
"The proposal aims at
understanding the climatic variability over Europe in the centuries
prior to regular meteorological observations, at establishing a Europe
borehole temperature database and, using subsurface temperatures
profiles measured in deep boreholes, at evaluating the long-term
climatic impacts of increasing population, land-use changes,
industrialization and
global greenhouse forcing. Subsurface temperatures respond to changing
thermal conditions at the surface, and the resulting subsurface
perturbations comprise an archive of processes that have earlier been
active at the surface. The subsurface temperatures can be inverted to
recover the temperature history at the ground surface. Most of the
climatic paleo-proxies can provide the accuracy not more than 1°C,
a quantity comparable with the observed 20th-century warming, and
borehole thermometry is the only direct measurement of surface
paleo-temperature, without need of any empirical calibration, becoming
thus a standard part of large-scale climate models. It is a large,
novel and very good project, submitted by proponents highly regarded,
and based on important spatial data coverage in many countries and with
adequate infrastructure for the proposed research. It includes
innovative ideas, opens new research directions and is strongly
multidisciplinary. Yet, the proposal is mostly originating from the
geophysical community (geothermics), and climatologists should be
further involved. The project is not yet fully integrated, as it
relates rather on a series of similar activities in several countries.
A smaller scale project (cf. budget reductions recommended) is
suggested before the whole project is carried out in the size currently
requested, and the overall science management should be secured
carefully."
