Over millennia, natural and anthropogenic processes have been documented and preserved on sequential layers of wood, ice, sediments, speleothems and soils. These layers contain information that ignited many scientific inquiries aimed at understanding the past. Novel and existing methods and techniques in paleoenvironmental research are essential for the development of quantitative insights into past environmental changes, their drivers, and implications for natural and human ecosystems.

This methods collection on paleoenvironmental research aims to document these proxy-methods in a video format. The benefits obtained through video protocols for the preparation of samples will give broader accessibility, effective reproducibility, and better control of inter-lab comparisons and calibrations. This collection of video articles intends to generate novel and educational material on the state-of-the-art methodologies in paleoenvironmental research and will encompass forest, climate, glaciers, peatland, lacustrine, riverine, estuarine, and marine systems. Here we invite manuscripts highlighting sample preparation of multiple techniques, from ice cores, cave deposits, speleothems, palynology, dendrochronology, isotopes, geochemistry, sedimentology, and paleontology. The breadth of methods and new proxy-development will provide a valuable tool for the paleo-community at large.