72 research outputs found

    Revisiting the Geographical Extent of Exceptional Warmth in the Early Paleogene Southern Ocean

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    To assess zonal temperature and biogeographical patterns in the Southern Ocean during the Paleogene, we present new multi-proxy air- and sea-surface temperature data for the latest Paleocene (∼57–56 Ma) and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; ∼56 Ma) from the northern margin of the Australo-Antarctic Gulf (AAG). The various proxy data sets document the well-known late Paleocene warming and, superimposed, two transient late Paleocene pre-cursor warming events, hundreds of kyr prior to the PETM. Remarkably, temperature reconstructions for the AAG and southwest Pacific during the latest Paleocene, PETM and Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (∼53–49 Ma) show similar trends as well as similar absolute temperatures east and west of the closed Tasmanian Gateway. Our data imply that the exceptional warmth as recorded by previous studies for the southwest Pacific extended westward into the AAG. This contrasts with modeling-derived circulation and temperature patterns. We suggest that simulations of ocean circulation underestimate heat transport in the southwest Pacific due to insufficient resolution, not allowing for mesoscale eddy-related heat transport. We argue for a systematic approach to tackle model and proxy biases that may occur in marginal marine settings and non-analog high-latitude climates to assess the temperature reconstructions

    Global mean surface temperature and climate sensitivity of the early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO), Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), and latest Paleocene

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    Accurate estimates of past global mean surface temperature (GMST) help to contextualise future climate change and are required to estimate the sensitivity of the climate system to CO2 forcing through Earth's history. Previous GMST estimates for the latest Paleocene and early Eocene (∼57 to 48 million years ago) span a wide range (∼9 to 23 ∘C higher than pre-industrial) and prevent an accurate assessment of climate sensitivity during this extreme greenhouse climate interval. Using the most recent data compilations, we employ a multi-method experimental framework to calculate GMST during the three DeepMIP target intervals: (1) the latest Paleocene (∼57 Ma), (2) the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; 56 Ma), and (3) the early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO; 53.3 to 49.1 Ma). Using six different methodologies, we find that the average GMST estimate (66 % confidence) during the latest Paleocene, PETM, and EECO was 26.3 ∘C (22.3 to 28.3 ∘C), 31.6 ∘C (27.2 to 34.5 ∘C), and 27.0 ∘C (23.2 to 29.7 ∘C), respectively. GMST estimates from the EECO are ∼10 to 16 ∘C warmer than pre-industrial, higher than the estimate given by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report (9 to 14 ∘C higher than pre-industrial). Leveraging the large “signal” associated with these extreme warm climates, we combine estimates of GMST and CO2 from the latest Paleocene, PETM, and EECO to calculate gross estimates of the average climate sensitivity between the early Paleogene and today. We demonstrate that “bulk” equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS; 66 % confidence) during the latest Paleocene, PETM, and EECO is 4.5 ∘C (2.4 to 6.8 ∘C), 3.6 ∘C (2.3 to 4.7 ∘C), and 3.1 ∘C (1.8 to 4.4 ∘C) per doubling of CO2. These values are generally similar to those assessed by the IPCC (1.5 to 4.5 ∘C per doubling CO2) but appear incompatible with low ECS values (<1.5 per doubling CO2)

    Evaluation of Spain's Water-Energy Nexus

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    This paper explores the water-energy nexus of Spain and offers calculations for both the energy used in the water sector and the water required to run the energy sector. The article takes a prospective approach, offering evaluations of policy objectives for biofuels and expected renewable energy sources. Approximately 5.8% of total electricity demand in Spain is due to the water sector. Irrigated agriculture is one of the Spanish water sectors that show the largest growth in energy requirements. Searches for more efficient modes of farm water use, urban waste water treatment, and the use of desalinated water must henceforth include the energy component. Furthermore, biofuel production, to the levels targeted for 2020, would have an unbearable impact on the already stressed water resources in Spain. However, growing usage of renewable energy sources is not threatened by water scarcity, but legislative measures in water allocation and water markets will be required to meet the requirements of using these sources. Some of these measures, which are pushed by regional governments, are discussed in concluding sections

    Continental-scale geographic change across zealandia during paleogene subduction initiation

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    Data from International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 371 reveal vertical movements of 1-3 km in northern Zealandia during early Cenozoic subduction initiation in the western Pacific Ocean. Lord Howe Rise rose from deep (~1 km) water to sea level and subsided back, with peak uplift at 50 Ma in the north and between 41 and 32 Ma in the south. The New Caledonia Trough subsided 2-3 km between 55 and 45 Ma. We suggest these elevation changes resulted from crust delamination and mantle flow that led to slab formation. We propose a "subduction resurrection" model in which (1) a subduction rupture event activated lithospheric-scale faults across a broad region during less than ~5 m.y., and (2) tectonic forces evolved over a further 4-8 m.y. as subducted slabs grew in size and drove plate-motion change. Such a subduction rupture event may have involved nucleation and lateral propagation of slip-weakening rupture along an interconnected set of preexisting weaknesses adjacent to density anomalies

    The DeepMIP contribution to PMIP4: methodologies for selection, compilation and analysis of latest Paleocene and early Eocene climate proxy data, incorporating version 0.1 of the DeepMIP database

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    This is the final version of the article. Available from European Geosciences Union via the DOI in this record.Data availability. The data referenced in this manuscript are provided as Supplement Data Files 1 to 8. In the final version, these files will form DeepMIP database version 0.1 and will be accessible online via a citable DOI reference.The early Eocene (56 to 48 million years ago) is inferred to have been the most recent time that Earth's atmospheric CO2 concentrations exceeded 1000 ppm. Global mean temperatures were also substantially warmer than those of the present day. As such, the study of early Eocene climate provides insight into how a super-warm Earth system behaves and offers an opportunity to evaluate climate models under conditions of high greenhouse gas forcing. The Deep Time Model Intercomparison Project (DeepMIP) is a systematic model–model and model–data intercomparison of three early Paleogene time slices: latest Paleocene, Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) and early Eocene climatic optimum (EECO). A previous article outlined the model experimental design for climate model simulations. In this article, we outline the methodologies to be used for the compilation and analysis of climate proxy data, primarily proxies for temperature and CO2. This paper establishes the protocols for a concerted and coordinated effort to compile the climate proxy records across a wide geographic range. The resulting climate “atlas” will be used to constrain and evaluate climate models for the three selected time intervals and provide insights into the mechanisms that control these warm climate states. We provide version 0.1 of this database, in anticipation that this will be expanded in subsequent publications.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)GNS Science Global Change through Time ProgrammeNational Science Foundation (NSF)KU Leuve

    North Atlantic surface ocean warming and salinization in response to middle Eocene greenhouse warming

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    Quantitative reconstructions of hydrological change during ancient greenhouse warming events provide valuable insight into warmer-than-modern hydrological cycles but are limited by paleoclimate proxy uncertainties. We present sea surface temperature (SST) records and seawater oxygen isotope (δ18Osw) estimates for the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO), using coupled carbonate clumped isotope (Δ47) and oxygen isotope (δ18Oc) data of well-preserved planktonic foraminifera from the North Atlantic Newfoundland Drifts. These indicate a transient ~3°C warming across the MECO, with absolute temperatures generally in accordance with trace element (Mg/Ca)–based SSTs but lower than biomarker-based SSTs for the same interval. We find a transient ~0.5‰ shift toward higher (δ18Osw), which implies increased salinity in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre and potentially a poleward expansion of its northern boundary in response to greenhouse warming. These observations provide constraints on dynamic ocean response to warming events, which are consistent with theory and model simulations predicting an enhanced hydrological cycle under global warming

    Coupled evolution of temperature and carbonate chemistry during the Paleocene–Eocene; new trace element records from the low latitude Indian Ocean

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    This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordThe early Paleogene represents the most recent interval in Earth’s history characterized by global greenhouse warmth on multi-million year timescales, yet our understanding of long-term climate and carbon cycle evolution in the low latitudes, and in particular the Indian Ocean, remains very poorly constrained. Here we present the first long-term sub-eccentricity-resolution stable isotope (δ13 30 C and δ 18 O) and trace element (Mg/Ca and B/Ca) records spanning the late Paleocene–early Eocene (~58– 53 Ma) across a surface–deep hydrographic reconstruction of the northern Indian Ocean, resolving late Paleocene 405-kyr paced cyclicity and a portion of the PETM recovery. Our new records reveal a long-term warming of ~4–5°C at all depths in the water column, with absolute surface ocean temperatures and magnitudes of warming comparable to the low latitude Pacific. As a result of warming, we observe a long-term increase in δ 18 Osw of the mixed layer, implying an increase in net evaporation. We also observe a collapse in the temperature gradient between mixed layer- and thermocline-dwelling species from ~57–54 Ma, potentially due to either the development of a more homogeneous water column with a thicker mixed layer, or depth migration of the Morozovella in response to warming. Synchronous warming at both low and high latitudes, along with decreasing B/Ca ratios in planktic foraminifera indicating a decrease in ocean pH and/or increasing dissolved inorganic carbon, suggest that global climate was forced by rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations during this time.European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD)International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS)NSFNatural Environment Research Council (NERC

    Registered Replication Report: Dijksterhuis and van Knippenberg (1998)

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    Dijksterhuis and van Knippenberg (1998) reported that participants primed with a category associated with intelligence ("professor") subsequently performed 13% better on a trivia test than participants primed with a category associated with a lack of intelligence ("soccer hooligans"). In two unpublished replications of this study designed to verify the appropriate testing procedures, Dijksterhuis, van Knippenberg, and Holland observed a smaller difference between conditions (2%-3%) as well as a gender difference: Men showed the effect (9.3% and 7.6%), but women did not (0.3% and -0.3%). The procedure used in those replications served as the basis for this multilab Registered Replication Report. A total of 40 laboratories collected data for this project, and 23 of these laboratories met all inclusion criteria. Here we report the meta-analytic results for those 23 direct replications (total N = 4,493), which tested whether performance on a 30-item general-knowledge trivia task differed between these two priming conditions (results of supplementary analyses of the data from all 40 labs, N = 6,454, are also reported). We observed no overall difference in trivia performance between participants primed with the "professor" category and those primed with the "hooligan" category (0.14%) and no moderation by gender

    Global and Zonal-Mean Hydrological Response to Early Eocene Warmth

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    Earth's hydrological cycle is expected to intensify in response to global warming, with a “wet-gets-wetter, dry-gets-drier” response anticipated over the ocean. Subtropical regions (∼15°–30°N/S) are predicted to become drier, yet proxy evidence from past warm climates suggests these regions may be characterized by wetter conditions. Here we use an integrated data-modeling approach to reconstruct global and zonal-mean rainfall patterns during the early Eocene (∼56–48 million years ago). The Deep-Time Model Intercomparison Project (DeepMIP) model ensemble indicates that the mid- (30°–60°N/S) and high-latitudes (>60°N/S) are characterized by a thermodynamically dominated hydrological response to warming and overall wetter conditions. The tropical band (0°–15°N/S) is also characterized by wetter conditions, with several DeepMIP models simulating narrowing of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone. However, the latter is not evident from the proxy data. The subtropics are characterized by negative precipitation-evaporation anomalies (i.e., drier conditions) in the DeepMIP models, but there is surprisingly large inter-model variability in mean annual precipitation (MAP). Intriguingly, we find that models with weaker meridional temperature gradients (e.g., CESM, GFDL) are characterized by a reduction in subtropical moisture divergence, leading to an increase in MAP. These model simulations agree more closely with our new proxy-derived precipitation reconstructions and other key climate metrics and imply that the early Eocene was characterized by reduced subtropical moisture divergence. If the meridional temperature gradient was even weaker than suggested by those DeepMIP models, circulation-induced changes may have outcompeted thermodynamic changes, leading to wetter subtropics. This highlights the importance of accurately reconstructing zonal temperature gradients when reconstructing past rainfall patterns
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