Past terrestrial hydroclimate sensitivity controlled by Earth system feedbacks

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Feng, Ran, Bhattacharya, Tripti, Otto-Bliesner, Bette, Brady, Esther, Haywood, Alan, Tindall, Julia, Hunter, Stephen, Abe-Ouchi, Ayako, Chan, Wing-Le, Kageyama, Masa, Contoux, Camille, Guo, Chuncheng, Li, Xiangyu, Lohmann, Gerrit, Stepanek, Christian, Tan, Ning, Zhang, Qiong, Zhang, Zhongshi, Han, Zixuan, Williams, Charles, Lunt, Daniel, Dowsett, Harry, Chandan, Deepak, Peltier, W. Richard, Peltier, &
• Other Authors: University of Connecticut (UCONN), Syracuse University, National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder (NCAR), University of Leeds, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute Kashiwa-shi (AORI), The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Modélisation du climat (CLIM), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR), Department of Biological Sciences Bergen (BIO / UiB), University of Bergen (UiB)-University of Bergen (UiB), China University of Geosciences Wuhan (CUG), Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Universität Bremen, Hohai University, Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, School of Geographical Sciences Bristol, University of Bristol Bristol, United States Geological Survey Reston (USGS), University of Toronto, The authors would like to thank all modeling groups who provided PMIP4 outputs for this analysis, WCRP, CMIP panel, PCMDI, ESGF infrastructures for sharing data, WCRP, and CLIVAR for supporting the PMIP project. R.F., T.B., B.L.O., and E.C.B acknowledge support from U.S. National Science Foundation grant numbers 1814029 and 1903650 (R.F.), 1903148 and 2103015 (T.B.) and 1852977 (B.L.O. and E.C.B.). X.L. and N.T. acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation of China grant numbers 42005042 (X.L.) and 41888101 (N.T.). D.L. acknowledges support from NERC (Natural Environment Research Council), SWEET Large Grant number NE/P01903X/1. C.C. acknowledges support from France ANR HADoC grant number ANR-17-CE31-0010. Q.Z. acknowledge support from Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) grant numbers. 2013-06476 and 2017-04232. W.L.C. and A.A.O. acknowledge support from Japanese JSPS Kakenhi grant 17H06104 and NEXT Kakenhi grant 17H06323. H.D. acknowledges support from USGS Paleoclimate Research and Development Program. C.S. and G.L. acknowledge funding via the Alfred Wegener Institute’s research programme PACES2. C.S. received funding via the Helmholtz Climate Initiative REKLIM. The PRISM4 reconstruction and boundary conditions used in the presented simulations were funded by the U.S. Geological Survey Climate and Land Use Change Research and Development Program. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. The CESM2 simulations are performed with high-performance computing support from Cheyenne (doi:10.5065/D6RX99HX) provided by NCAR’s Computational and Information Systems Laboratory, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The IPSL-CM6A-LR simulation was run on the Très Grande Infrastructure de Calcul (TGCC) at Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (gencmip6 project) under the allocations 2016-A0030107732, 2017-R0040110492 and 2018-R0040110492 (project gencmip6) provided by GENCI (Grand Equipement National de Calcul Intensif). The model simulations with EC-Earth3 and the data analysis were performed using resources provided by ECMWF’s computing and the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC) at the National Supercomputer Centre (NSC), which is partially funded by the Swedish Research Council through grant agreement no. 2018-05973. A.A.O. and W.L.C. acknowledge JAMSTEC for use of the Earth Simulator supercomputer. COSMOS simulations have been conducted at the Computing and Data Centre of the Alfred Wegener Institute – Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research on a NEC SX-ACE high-performance vector computer., ANR-17-CE31-0010,HADoC,Rôle du Climat dans la dispersion des ancêtres de l'Homme(2017)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces; environment; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03620581; https://hal.science/hal-03620581/document; https://hal.science/hal-03620581/file/s41467-022-28814-7.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28814-7

International audience Despite tectonic conditions and atmospheric CO 2 levels (pCO 2) similar to those of presentday, geological reconstructions from the mid-Pliocene (3.3-3.0 Ma) document high lake levels in the Sahel and mesic conditions in subtropical Eurasia, suggesting drastic reorganizations of subtropical terrestrial hydroclimate during this interval. Here, using a compilation of proxy data and multi-model paleoclimate simulations, we show that the mid-Pliocene hydroclimate state is not driven by direct CO 2 radiative forcing but by a loss of northern highlatitude ice sheets and continental greening. These ice sheet and vegetation changes are long-term Earth system feedbacks to elevated pCO 2. Further, the moist conditions in the Sahel and subtropical Eurasia during the mid-Pliocene are a product of enhanced tropospheric humidity and a stationary wave response to the surface warming pattern, which varies strongly with land cover changes. These findings highlight the potential for amplified terrestrial hydroclimate responses over long timescales to a sustained CO 2 forcing.