Early Paleogene temperature history of the Southwest Pacific Ocean: Reconciling proxies and models

Hollis, Christopher J.; Taylor, Kyle; Handley, Luke; Pancost, Richard D.; Huber, Matthew; Creech, John; Hines, Benjamin R.; Crouch, Erica M.; Morgans, Hugh E. G.; Crampton, James S.; Gibbs, Samantha J.; Pearson, Paul Nicholas; Zachos, James C

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2012.06.024

Cited by 244 publications

(444 citation statements)

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“…Among the models included in the EoMIP, the Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3) of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) (the model used in the present paper; Methods) gave the closest match to data, likely because the CCSM3's vigorous polar amplification (43) allows it to match high-latitude temperature records well once the global mean value is warm enough. Although significant discrepancies with individual data points remain (14,21), this match represents a very considerable improvement compared with earlier modeling work, adding credibility to model-based studies of early Paleogene sensitivity. Fig.…”

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confidence: 64%

“…Tropical sea surface temperatures (SSTs), previously thought to be similar to or even cooler than modern SSTs, were 3-10°C warmer than today (8)(9)(10)(11)(12), although uncertainty on these values remains large (13). Extratropical surface temperatures were 10-40°C warmer than modern extratropical surface temperatures in continental interiors (14)(15)(16)(17)(18), along polar margins (19,20), and over the oceans (21). Here, we compile these proxy interpretations to estimate that the global area-weighted annual mean surface temperature (MAT) in the early Eocene, the warmest part of the early Paleogene, was some 13 ± 2.6°C warmer than modern temperatures ( Fig.…”

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confidence: 99%

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State-dependent climate sensitivity in past warm climates and its implications for future climate projections

Caballero

Huber

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Projections of future climate depend critically on refined estimates of climate sensitivity. Recent progress in temperature proxies dramatically increases the magnitude of warming reconstructed from early Paleogene greenhouse climates and demands a close examination of the forcing and feedback mechanisms that maintained this warmth and the broad dynamic range that these paleoclimate records attest to. Here, we show that several complementary resolutions to these questions are possible in the context of model simulations using modern and early Paleogene configurations. We find that (i) changes in boundary conditions representative of slow "Earth system" feedbacks play an important role in maintaining elevated early Paleogene temperatures, (ii) radiative forcing by carbon dioxide deviates significantly from pure logarithmic behavior at concentrations relevant for simulation of the early Paleogene, and (iii) fast or "Charney" climate sensitivity in this model increases sharply as the climate warms. Thus, increased forcing and increased slow and fast sensitivity can all play a substantial role in maintaining early Paleogene warmth. This poses an equifinality problem: The same climate can be maintained by a different mix of these ingredients; however, at present, the mix cannot be constrained directly from climate proxy data. The implications of strongly state-dependent fast sensitivity reach far beyond the early Paleogene. The study of past warm climates may not narrow uncertainty in future climate projections in coming centuries because fast climate sensitivity may itself be state-dependent, but proxies and models are both consistent with significant increases in fast sensitivity with increasing temperature.superrotation | hyperthermal T he early Paleogene (∼65-35 Mya) was the most recent time when the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentration was in the ≥1,000-ppm range that may reoccur over the next several centuries (1). Study of this period may therefore provide constraints on climate sensitivity, broadly defined as the global mean temperature response to radiative forcing, which are useful for climate change prediction (2, 3). On the other hand, analogies between early Paleogene and future climates are not straightforward because so many other variables apart from CO 2 have also changed (4), and because climate sensitivity may change across different climate states (3,5). Given the crucial role that paleoclimate data from past greenhouse climates play in informing the debates about future climate change (6, 7), an investigation of the strengths and limitations of using such data to make inferences about climate sensitivity is in order.Recent progress in reconstructing the early Paleogene has brought an across-the-board upward revision of surface temperature estimates. Tropical sea surface temperatures (SSTs), previously thought to be similar to or even cooler than modern SSTs, were 3-10°C warmer than today (8-12), although uncertainty on these values remains large (13). Extratropical surface temperature...

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confidence: 64%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

State-dependent climate sensitivity in past warm climates and its implications for future climate projections

Caballero

Huber

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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202

195

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“…On the other hand, some drops in crocodylomorph diversity correspond to temperature declines such as that of the Callovian affecting thalattosuchian diversity or the Valanginian-Hauterivian boundary affecting metriorhynchoids. Concerning the extinction of Pholidosauridae in the Turonian and Dyrosauridae in the Ypresian, a clear match between SST and diversity is absent, even when considering finescale SST variations reconstructed using other proxies 18,19 . Among the considered marine crocodylomorph lineages, the metriorhynchoids clearly stand out with an explosive radiation at the end of the Jurassic, when SSTs continued to decrease.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sea surface temperature contributes to marine crocodylomorph evolution

et al. 2014

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During the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, four distinct crocodylomorph lineages colonized the marine environment. They were conspicuously absent from high latitudes, which in the Mesozoic were occupied by warm-blooded ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. Despite a relatively well-constrained stratigraphic distribution, the varying diversities of marine crocodylomorphs are poorly understood, because their extinctions neither coincided with any major biological crises nor with the advent of potential competitors. Here we test the potential link between their evolutionary history in terms of taxic diversity and two abiotic factors, sea level variations and sea surface temperatures (SST). Excluding Metriorhynchoidea, which may have had a peculiar ecology, significant correlations obtained between generic diversity and estimated Tethyan SST suggest that water temperature was a driver of marine crocodylomorph diversity. Being most probably ectothermic reptiles, these lineages colonized the marine realm and diversified during warm periods, then declined or became extinct during cold intervals.

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“…Schmitz et al, 2001;Schmitz and Pujalte, 2003). In fact, palaeosoil data from northern Spain (Schmitz and Pujalte, 2003) and terrestrial n-alkane δD records from eastern Tanzania (Handley et al, 2012) point to more arid annual conditions in the subtropics during the PETM. This is consistent with model predictions that warmer atmospheric temperatures will cause a stronger latitudinal evaporation-precipitation gradient, with higher evaporation rates in the sub-tropics and higher precipitation rates in mid-and high-latitudes (Manabe, 1996).…”

Section: Magnitude Of the Cie During The Petmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So far, TEX86 palaeothermometry has been applied to a limited number of PETM sections (Hollis et al, 2012;Sluijs et al, 2006Sluijs et al, , 2007Sluijs et al, , 2011Sluijs et al, , 2014Zachos et al, 2006) covering only a few locations worldwide, whereas a PETM MAT record based on the MBT/CBT proxy is available only for a single site located in the Arctic Ocean (Weijers et al, 2007a). The temperature records based on TEX86 show a similar extent of warming as those recorded by Mg/Ca and δ 18 O of foraminifera, i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Warming and environmental changes in the eastern North Sea Basin during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum as revealed by biomarker lipids

Schoon

Heilmann‐Clausen

Schultz³

et al. 2015

Organic Geochemistry

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Early Paleogene temperature history of the Southwest Pacific Ocean: Reconciling proxies and models

Cited by 244 publications

References 83 publications

State-dependent climate sensitivity in past warm climates and its implications for future climate projections

State-dependent climate sensitivity in past warm climates and its implications for future climate projections

Sea surface temperature contributes to marine crocodylomorph evolution

Warming and environmental changes in the eastern North Sea Basin during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum as revealed by biomarker lipids

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