Fossil Atmospheres

In August of 2019, scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History asked citizen scientists all over the United States to collect Ginkgo leaves and mail them to Washington DC as part of the Fossil Atmospheres project. In response, we got hundreds of packages!

Now that the Ginkgo leaves have fallen, the Fossil Atmospheres team is transitioning to the next phases of the project. We are putting images of the magnified leaves up on Zooniverse so the public can help us count the pores that serve as a proxy for climate conditions. Check that out here to help. We are also working to create educational content around the science of Fossil Atmospheres. That content will be up on the Museum website in the spring.

Fossil Atmospheres will be looking for citizen scientists to contribute leaf samples from Ginkgo trees in their areas again next summer, so please be on the lookout for that. Click here for instructions on how to collect and send in your leaves.

What's this for?

Leaves have pores, called stomata, that the plant uses to exchange gases with the atmosphere. The number of stomata on a leaf is determined by factors like humidity, temperature, and amount of CO2. Our analyses of the leaves you send will tell us what stomatal counts to expect from trees growing in all sorts of different climates - from arid Arizona to frigid Alaska.

About us

Fossil Atmospheres is funded by the National Science Foundation and based at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. less ↑