Evidence for fire in the Pliocene Arctic in response to amplified temperature
The mid-Pliocene is a valuable time interval for investigating equilibrium climate at current atmospheric CO2 concentrations because atmospheric CO2 concentrations are thought to have been comparable to the current day and yet the climate and distribution of ecosystems were quite different. One intr...
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Copernicus Publications
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1063-2019 https://www.clim-past.net/15/1063/2019/cp-15-1063-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3c33fa5866214f5fad612fe9beb240b1 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:3c33fa5866214f5fad612fe9beb240b1 2023-05-15T14:53:01+02:00 Evidence for fire in the Pliocene Arctic in response to amplified temperature T. L. Fletcher L. Warden J. S. Sinninghe Damsté K. J. Brown N. Rybczynski J. C. Gosse A. P. Ballantyne 2019-06-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1063-2019 https://www.clim-past.net/15/1063/2019/cp-15-1063-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3c33fa5866214f5fad612fe9beb240b1 en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/cp-15-1063-2019 1814-9324 1814-9332 https://www.clim-past.net/15/1063/2019/cp-15-1063-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3c33fa5866214f5fad612fe9beb240b1 undefined Climate of the Past, Vol 15, Pp 1063-1081 (2019) envir geo Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2019 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1063-2019 2023-01-22T19:36:52Z The mid-Pliocene is a valuable time interval for investigating equilibrium climate at current atmospheric CO2 concentrations because atmospheric CO2 concentrations are thought to have been comparable to the current day and yet the climate and distribution of ecosystems were quite different. One intriguing, but not fully understood, feature of the early to mid-Pliocene climate is the amplified Arctic temperature response and its impact on Arctic ecosystems. Only the most recent models appear to correctly estimate the degree of warming in the Pliocene Arctic and validation of the currently proposed feedbacks is limited by scarce terrestrial records of climate and environment. Here we reconstruct the summer temperature and fire regime from a subfossil fen-peat deposit on west–central Ellesmere Island, Canada, that has been chronologically constrained using cosmogenic nuclide burial dating to 3.9+1.5/-0.5 Ma. The estimate for average mean summer temperature is 15.4±0.8 ∘C using specific bacterial membrane lipids, i.e., branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers. This is above the proposed threshold that predicts a substantial increase in wildfire in the modern high latitudes. Macro-charcoal was present in all samples from this Pliocene section with notably higher charcoal concentration in the upper part of the sequence. This change in charcoal was synchronous with a change in vegetation that included an increase in abundance of fire-promoting Pinus and Picea. Paleo-vegetation reconstructions are consistent with warm summer temperatures, relatively low summer precipitation and an incidence of fire comparable to fire-adapted boreal forests of North America and central Siberia. To our knowledge, this site provides the northernmost evidence of fire during the Pliocene. It suggests that ecosystem productivity was greater than in the present day, providing fuel for wildfires, and that the climate was conducive to the ignition of fire during this period. The results reveal that interactions between paleo-vegetation and ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Ellesmere Island Siberia Unknown Arctic Canada Ellesmere Island Climate of the Past 15 3 1063 1081 |
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envir geo T. L. Fletcher L. Warden J. S. Sinninghe Damsté K. J. Brown N. Rybczynski J. C. Gosse A. P. Ballantyne Evidence for fire in the Pliocene Arctic in response to amplified temperature |
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envir geo |
description |
The mid-Pliocene is a valuable time interval for investigating equilibrium climate at current atmospheric CO2 concentrations because atmospheric CO2 concentrations are thought to have been comparable to the current day and yet the climate and distribution of ecosystems were quite different. One intriguing, but not fully understood, feature of the early to mid-Pliocene climate is the amplified Arctic temperature response and its impact on Arctic ecosystems. Only the most recent models appear to correctly estimate the degree of warming in the Pliocene Arctic and validation of the currently proposed feedbacks is limited by scarce terrestrial records of climate and environment. Here we reconstruct the summer temperature and fire regime from a subfossil fen-peat deposit on west–central Ellesmere Island, Canada, that has been chronologically constrained using cosmogenic nuclide burial dating to 3.9+1.5/-0.5 Ma. The estimate for average mean summer temperature is 15.4±0.8 ∘C using specific bacterial membrane lipids, i.e., branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers. This is above the proposed threshold that predicts a substantial increase in wildfire in the modern high latitudes. Macro-charcoal was present in all samples from this Pliocene section with notably higher charcoal concentration in the upper part of the sequence. This change in charcoal was synchronous with a change in vegetation that included an increase in abundance of fire-promoting Pinus and Picea. Paleo-vegetation reconstructions are consistent with warm summer temperatures, relatively low summer precipitation and an incidence of fire comparable to fire-adapted boreal forests of North America and central Siberia. To our knowledge, this site provides the northernmost evidence of fire during the Pliocene. It suggests that ecosystem productivity was greater than in the present day, providing fuel for wildfires, and that the climate was conducive to the ignition of fire during this period. The results reveal that interactions between paleo-vegetation and ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
T. L. Fletcher L. Warden J. S. Sinninghe Damsté K. J. Brown N. Rybczynski J. C. Gosse A. P. Ballantyne |
author_facet |
T. L. Fletcher L. Warden J. S. Sinninghe Damsté K. J. Brown N. Rybczynski J. C. Gosse A. P. Ballantyne |
author_sort |
T. L. Fletcher |
title |
Evidence for fire in the Pliocene Arctic in response to amplified temperature |
title_short |
Evidence for fire in the Pliocene Arctic in response to amplified temperature |
title_full |
Evidence for fire in the Pliocene Arctic in response to amplified temperature |
title_fullStr |
Evidence for fire in the Pliocene Arctic in response to amplified temperature |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evidence for fire in the Pliocene Arctic in response to amplified temperature |
title_sort |
evidence for fire in the pliocene arctic in response to amplified temperature |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1063-2019 https://www.clim-past.net/15/1063/2019/cp-15-1063-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3c33fa5866214f5fad612fe9beb240b1 |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Ellesmere Island |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Ellesmere Island |
genre |
Arctic Ellesmere Island Siberia |
genre_facet |
Arctic Ellesmere Island Siberia |
op_source |
Climate of the Past, Vol 15, Pp 1063-1081 (2019) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/cp-15-1063-2019 1814-9324 1814-9332 https://www.clim-past.net/15/1063/2019/cp-15-1063-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3c33fa5866214f5fad612fe9beb240b1 |
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undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1063-2019 |
container_title |
Climate of the Past |
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15 |
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3 |
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1063 |
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1081 |
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