摘要:The newsletter cover nicely symbolizes the general perception of poor knowledge about the southern hemisphere, which extends into the paleoclimatic realm. Certainly, the tradition of Quaternary research stems from the northern hemisphere and a sustained focus is justified by the dominant role of the North Atlantic region in modulating climate change. The establishment of the PAGES Pole-Equator-Pole (PEP) transects led to a major impetus in the integration of information from southern and northern continents, and further highlighted the geographical separation of southern landmasses. One attempt to provide a southern focus was the INQUA and PAGES inspired ‘Paleoclimates of the Southern Hemisphere’ (PASH) program, but it succumbed to the tyranny of distance.