Global Cooling During the Eocene-Oligocene Climate Transition
Utrecht University · Purdue University West Lafayette · +4 more institutions
Abstract
About 34 million years ago, Earth's climate shifted from a relatively ice-free world to one with glacial conditions on Antarctica characterized by substantial ice sheets. How Earth's temperature changed during this climate transition remains poorly understood, and evidence for Northern Hemisphere polar ice is controversial. Here, we report proxy records of sea surface temperatures from multiple ocean localities and show that the high-latitude temperature decrease was substantial and heterogeneous. High-latitude (45 degrees to 70 degrees in both hemispheres) temperatures before the climate transition were approximately 20 degrees C and cooled an average of approximately 5 degrees C. Our results, combined with…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 33.67
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 32
Authors
9- ZLZhonghui LiuCorresponding
Utrecht University, Purdue University West Lafayette, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Yale University, University of Hong Kong
- MPMark PaganiCorresponding
Utrecht University, Purdue University West Lafayette, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Yale University, University of Hong Kong
- DZDavid Zinniker
Utrecht University, Purdue University West Lafayette, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Yale University, University of Hong Kong
- RMRobert M. DeConto
Utrecht University, Purdue University West Lafayette, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Yale University, University of Hong Kong
- MHMatthew Huber
Utrecht University, Purdue University West Lafayette, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Yale University, University of Hong Kong
Topics & keywords
- Glacial period
- Northern Hemisphere
- Ice sheet
- Geology
- Cryosphere
- Latitude
- Sea ice
- Antarctic ice sheet