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| Titel |
Can inter-ocean gateways explain long-term cooling since the early Pliocene? |
| VerfasserIn |
C. Brierley, A. Fedorov |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2012
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 14 (2012) |
| Datensatznummer |
250063382
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Some 5-4 million years ago, in the early Pliocene, the Earth experienced a warm, temperate climate. The gradual cooling that followed led to the establishment of cooler modern temperature patterns. Three critical conditions define the early Pliocene climate in comparison to the present: no difference in maximum sea surface temperatures, a substantially weaker meridional temperature gradient, and reduced zonal ocean temperature contrasts. Here, we investigate the role that changes in inter-ocean gateways played in development of the modern sea surface temperature pattern using a coupled climate model. None of the currently proposed gateway changes can account for all three conditions, even in combination with reducing CO2 levels. We briefly discuss additional dynamical mechanisms, such as variations in ocean mixing, that might be necessary to reproduce these conditions. |
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