An international team of earth scientists led by Utrecht professor Douwe van Hinsbergen has developed an online tool that allows you to see, for any given location on Earth, what latitude it occupied in the distant past, right back to the heyday of the supercontinent Pangaea 320 million years ago. The basis for this is the Utrecht Paleogeography Model, which enables by far the most detailed reconstruction of complex mountain ranges and vanished tectonic plates. The unprecedented accuracy of this tool offers countless possibilities, such as for reconstructions of the development and resilience of biodiversity and lays the foundation for our understanding of climate evolution. “Next time you go on a trip, take a look at Paleolatitude.org to see the journey your destination has taken itself.”

A new study led by the University of Oxford and ETH Zurich reveals that a key part of the climate system - the large-scale wind patterns that determine where rain falls – can be underestimated by current climate models, helping explain why forecasts of regional rainfall remain uncertain. Ultimately, this insight could enable more confident projections of future rainfall patterns, supporting better preparation for floods and droughts.