Antarctic ice-sheet response to atmospheric CO2 and insolation in the Middle Miocene
Foraminiferal oxygen isotopes from deep-sea sediment cores suggest that a rapid expansion of the Antarctic ice sheet took place in the Middle Miocene around 13.9 million years ago. The origin for this transition is still not understood satisfactorily. One possible cause is a drop in the partial pres...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:cp6322 2023-05-15T13:36:36+02:00 Antarctic ice-sheet response to atmospheric CO2 and insolation in the Middle Miocene Langebroek, P. M. Paul, A. Schulz, M. 2018-09-27 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-5-633-2009 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/5/633/2009/ eng eng doi:10.5194/cp-5-633-2009 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/5/633/2009/ eISSN: 1814-9332 Text 2018 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-5-633-2009 2020-07-20T16:26:32Z Foraminiferal oxygen isotopes from deep-sea sediment cores suggest that a rapid expansion of the Antarctic ice sheet took place in the Middle Miocene around 13.9 million years ago. The origin for this transition is still not understood satisfactorily. One possible cause is a drop in the partial pressure of atmospheric carbon dioxide ( p CO 2 ) in combination with orbital forcing. A complication is the large uncertainty in the magnitude and timing of the reconstructed p CO 2 variability and additionally the low temporal resolution of the available p CO 2 records in the Middle Miocene. We used an ice sheet-climate model of reduced complexity to assess variations in Antarctic ice sheet volume induced by p CO 2 and insolation forcing in the Middle Miocene. The ice-sheet sensitivity to atmospheric CO 2 was tested for several scenarios with constant p CO 2 forcing or a regular decrease in p CO 2 . This showed that small, ephemeral ice sheets existed under relatively high atmospheric CO 2 conditions (between 640–900 ppm), whereas more stable, large ice sheets occurred when p CO 2 was less than ~600 ppm. The main result of this study is that the p CO 2 -level must have declined just before or during the period of oxygen-isotope increase, thereby crossing a p CO 2 glaciation threshold of around 615 ppm. After the decline, the exact timing of the Antarctic ice-sheet expansion depends also on the relative minimum in summer insolation at approximately 13.89 million years ago. Although the mechanisms described appear to be robust, the exact values of the p CO 2 thresholds are likely to be model-dependent. Text Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Antarctic The Antarctic Climate of the Past 5 4 633 646 |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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English |
description |
Foraminiferal oxygen isotopes from deep-sea sediment cores suggest that a rapid expansion of the Antarctic ice sheet took place in the Middle Miocene around 13.9 million years ago. The origin for this transition is still not understood satisfactorily. One possible cause is a drop in the partial pressure of atmospheric carbon dioxide ( p CO 2 ) in combination with orbital forcing. A complication is the large uncertainty in the magnitude and timing of the reconstructed p CO 2 variability and additionally the low temporal resolution of the available p CO 2 records in the Middle Miocene. We used an ice sheet-climate model of reduced complexity to assess variations in Antarctic ice sheet volume induced by p CO 2 and insolation forcing in the Middle Miocene. The ice-sheet sensitivity to atmospheric CO 2 was tested for several scenarios with constant p CO 2 forcing or a regular decrease in p CO 2 . This showed that small, ephemeral ice sheets existed under relatively high atmospheric CO 2 conditions (between 640–900 ppm), whereas more stable, large ice sheets occurred when p CO 2 was less than ~600 ppm. The main result of this study is that the p CO 2 -level must have declined just before or during the period of oxygen-isotope increase, thereby crossing a p CO 2 glaciation threshold of around 615 ppm. After the decline, the exact timing of the Antarctic ice-sheet expansion depends also on the relative minimum in summer insolation at approximately 13.89 million years ago. Although the mechanisms described appear to be robust, the exact values of the p CO 2 thresholds are likely to be model-dependent. |
format |
Text |
author |
Langebroek, P. M. Paul, A. Schulz, M. |
spellingShingle |
Langebroek, P. M. Paul, A. Schulz, M. Antarctic ice-sheet response to atmospheric CO2 and insolation in the Middle Miocene |
author_facet |
Langebroek, P. M. Paul, A. Schulz, M. |
author_sort |
Langebroek, P. M. |
title |
Antarctic ice-sheet response to atmospheric CO2 and insolation in the Middle Miocene |
title_short |
Antarctic ice-sheet response to atmospheric CO2 and insolation in the Middle Miocene |
title_full |
Antarctic ice-sheet response to atmospheric CO2 and insolation in the Middle Miocene |
title_fullStr |
Antarctic ice-sheet response to atmospheric CO2 and insolation in the Middle Miocene |
title_full_unstemmed |
Antarctic ice-sheet response to atmospheric CO2 and insolation in the Middle Miocene |
title_sort |
antarctic ice-sheet response to atmospheric co2 and insolation in the middle miocene |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-5-633-2009 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/5/633/2009/ |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet |
op_source |
eISSN: 1814-9332 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/cp-5-633-2009 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/5/633/2009/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-5-633-2009 |
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Climate of the Past |
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5 |
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4 |
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633 |
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1766081422408286208 |