Stalagmites are extremely valuable for reconstructing past climate change because they hold records spanning tens of thousands of years. But in order to understand how the stalagmites respond to climate changes, we need to know what the modern cave environment is doing. That's where cave monitoring comes in.

We are collecting drip water samples and cave microclimate measurements (like temperature and humidity) from all the caves involved in our study. Information from the modern environment will put the stalagmite data into context.

We also collect precipitation samples so that we can study how the cave drip water composition responds to different rain conditions. Because most of the researchers live far away from the cave sites, residents who spend time near the caves collect the water samples. We have established rain water collection partnerships in four locations so far.

In addition to cave deposits, trees can also hold records of climate change. Researchers at UNAM are using tree rings to learn about rainfall changes in the recent past. More to come soon on this topic!