Earth’s weather and climate are cyclic on various timescales. Humans are most familiar with the daily
variations in surface temperatures or the seasonal cycle. Over geological timescales, the Earth’s astronomical
configuration with respect to the Sun also causes rhythmical climate changes, with known periodicities.
Indeed, Solar System gravitational interactions influence Earth’s orientation and position determining the
distribution of incoming solar radiation, as the pacing of Quaternary ice ages illustrates. Three parameters,
often referred to as Milankovitch parameters, control Earth astronomical configuration: the precession and
obliquity of the Earth’s axis (periods: 20 & 41 thousand years, respectively), and the eccentricity of the Earth’s
orbit (multiple periods of ~100, 405 & ~2400 thousand years).
This scientific network brings together geologists, astronomers, and signal processors to identify, extract and
interpret astronomically driven climate changes, recorded in sedimentary geologic archives, by means of
time-series analysis. Studying ancient climate signals provide detailed insights into past climate dynamics,
including their chronology and pacing. By controlling the distribution of solar energy (in time and space),
Milankovitch parameters influence various climate processes (temperature, precipitation, ocean, &
atmosphere circulation etc.) that ultimately modify sedimentation patterns. Therefore, the identification of
these astronomical cycles engraved in ancient sedimentary sequences (cyclostratigraphy) reconstructs the
heartbeat of past climate states (paleoclimatology) and like a metronome, their frequencies accurately
reconstruct geological timescales (astrochronology).
The study of astronomical climate forcing and the application of cyclostratigraphy experienced a spectacular
growth over the last decades. In 2018, the first Cyclostratigraphy Intercomparison Project (CIP) workshop
constituted the first attempt to compare different methodological approaches and unite the global
community around standard, uniform and reliable procedures. The results, summarized in a review paper
published in Earth-Science Reviews (Sinnesael et al., 2019) concluded: [1] There is a need for further
organization of the cyclostratigraphic community (e.g. to streamline different methodologies); [2]
Cyclostratigraphy is a trainable skill, but currently many universities lack specific resources for training and
education. Today, a regular newsletter, a dedicated free open-access journal, a scientific podcast titled
CycloPod, and an educational website www.cyclostratigraphy.org connect the cyclostratigraphy community.
CycloNet expands this effort into a real and sustainable scientific research network coordinated in Flanders,
with partners from all around Europe, and open to the global community. CycloNet structures and officializes
the European growing cyclostratigraphic community, in close cooperation with US partners in the CycloAstro
project (https://sites.google.com/view/cycloastro/). At the same time, CycloNet creates a platform for
streamlining and integrating new multi-disciplinary approaches. The main scientific targets for CycloNet in
the next five years are:
1) Set up a diverse and sustainable community structure, relying on exchange, interaction and training. It
provides a free state-of-the-art digital educational platform, for lectures to find inspiration and for
students to do self-training. It organizes yearly field training courses for early-career cyclostratigraphers
and mid-career geologists that want to extend their “skill set”. The latter group is targeted to witness a
rapid expansion of cyclostratigraphy training in BSc and MSc programs worldwide.
2) Boost research by novel methodological approaches applying advanced signal processing techniques,
driven by collaboration between cyclostratigraphers, astronomers, signal-processing engineers and
climate modelers. Incorporate more prior knowledge (e.g., astronomical solutions) into cyclostratigraphic
analyses, while at the same time testing astronomical models by means of geologic data.
3) Organize a second Cyclostratigraphic Intercomparison Project, in Brussels in 2023 or 2024. Set up
regular meetings (online, hybrid & physical) to present results and new developments as well as
detailed field studies/sampling missions to test new developments and methodologies at the outcrop.