Subtropical Arctic Ocean temperatures during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum
The Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum, ∼55 million years ago, was a brief period of widespread, extreme climatic warming, that was associated with massive atmospheric greenhouse gas input. Although aspects of the resulting environmental changes are well documented at low latitudes, no data were avai...
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ftunivrhodeislan:oai:digitalcommons.uri.edu:gsofacpubs-2688 2024-01-21T09:58:42+01:00 Subtropical Arctic Ocean temperatures during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum Sluijs, Appy Schouten, Stefan Pagani, Mark Woltering, Martijn Brinkhuis, Henk Damsté, Jaap S. Sinninghe Dickens, Gerald R. Huber, Matthew Reichart, Gert Jan Stein, Ruediger Matthiessen, Jens Lourens, Lucas J. Pedentchouk, Nikolai Backman, Jan Moran, Kathryn Clemens, Steve Cronin, Thomas Eynaud, Frédérique Gattacceca, Jérôme Jakobsson, Martin Jordan, Ric Kaminski, Michael King, John Koc, Nalân Martinez, Nahysa C. McInroy, David Moore, Theodore C. O'Regan, Matthew Onodera, Jonaotaro Pälike, Heiko Rea, Brice Rio, Domenico Sakamoto, Tatsuhiko Smith, David C. St John, Kristen E.K. Suto, Itsuki 2006-06-01T07:00:00Z https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/gsofacpubs/1719 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04668 unknown DigitalCommons@URI https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/gsofacpubs/1719 doi:10.1038/nature04668 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04668 Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications text 2006 ftunivrhodeislan https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04668 2023-12-25T19:09:53Z The Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum, ∼55 million years ago, was a brief period of widespread, extreme climatic warming, that was associated with massive atmospheric greenhouse gas input. Although aspects of the resulting environmental changes are well documented at low latitudes, no data were available to quantify simultaneous changes in the Arctic region. Here we identify the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum in a marine sedimentary sequence obtained during the Arctic Coring Expedition. We show that sea surface temperatures near the North Pole increased from ∼18°C to over 23°C during this event. Such warm values imply the absence of ice and thus exclude the influence of ice-albedo feedbacks on this Arctic warming. At the same time, sea level rose while anoxic and euxinic conditions developed in the ocean's bottom waters and photic zone, respectively. Increasing temperature and sea level match expectations based on palaeoclimate model simulations, but the absolute polar temperatures that we derive before, during and after the event are more than 10°C warmer than those model-predicted. This suggests that higher-than-modern greenhouse gas concentrations must have operated in conjunction with other feedback mechanisms-perhaps polar stratospheric clouds or hurricane-induced ocean mixing-to amplify early Palaeogene polar temperatures. © 2006 Nature Publishing Group. Text albedo Arctic Arctic Ocean North Pole University of Rhode Island: DigitalCommons@URI Arctic Arctic Ocean North Pole Nature 441 7093 610 613 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Rhode Island: DigitalCommons@URI |
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ftunivrhodeislan |
language |
unknown |
description |
The Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum, ∼55 million years ago, was a brief period of widespread, extreme climatic warming, that was associated with massive atmospheric greenhouse gas input. Although aspects of the resulting environmental changes are well documented at low latitudes, no data were available to quantify simultaneous changes in the Arctic region. Here we identify the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum in a marine sedimentary sequence obtained during the Arctic Coring Expedition. We show that sea surface temperatures near the North Pole increased from ∼18°C to over 23°C during this event. Such warm values imply the absence of ice and thus exclude the influence of ice-albedo feedbacks on this Arctic warming. At the same time, sea level rose while anoxic and euxinic conditions developed in the ocean's bottom waters and photic zone, respectively. Increasing temperature and sea level match expectations based on palaeoclimate model simulations, but the absolute polar temperatures that we derive before, during and after the event are more than 10°C warmer than those model-predicted. This suggests that higher-than-modern greenhouse gas concentrations must have operated in conjunction with other feedback mechanisms-perhaps polar stratospheric clouds or hurricane-induced ocean mixing-to amplify early Palaeogene polar temperatures. © 2006 Nature Publishing Group. |
format |
Text |
author |
Sluijs, Appy Schouten, Stefan Pagani, Mark Woltering, Martijn Brinkhuis, Henk Damsté, Jaap S. Sinninghe Dickens, Gerald R. Huber, Matthew Reichart, Gert Jan Stein, Ruediger Matthiessen, Jens Lourens, Lucas J. Pedentchouk, Nikolai Backman, Jan Moran, Kathryn Clemens, Steve Cronin, Thomas Eynaud, Frédérique Gattacceca, Jérôme Jakobsson, Martin Jordan, Ric Kaminski, Michael King, John Koc, Nalân Martinez, Nahysa C. McInroy, David Moore, Theodore C. O'Regan, Matthew Onodera, Jonaotaro Pälike, Heiko Rea, Brice Rio, Domenico Sakamoto, Tatsuhiko Smith, David C. St John, Kristen E.K. Suto, Itsuki |
spellingShingle |
Sluijs, Appy Schouten, Stefan Pagani, Mark Woltering, Martijn Brinkhuis, Henk Damsté, Jaap S. Sinninghe Dickens, Gerald R. Huber, Matthew Reichart, Gert Jan Stein, Ruediger Matthiessen, Jens Lourens, Lucas J. Pedentchouk, Nikolai Backman, Jan Moran, Kathryn Clemens, Steve Cronin, Thomas Eynaud, Frédérique Gattacceca, Jérôme Jakobsson, Martin Jordan, Ric Kaminski, Michael King, John Koc, Nalân Martinez, Nahysa C. McInroy, David Moore, Theodore C. O'Regan, Matthew Onodera, Jonaotaro Pälike, Heiko Rea, Brice Rio, Domenico Sakamoto, Tatsuhiko Smith, David C. St John, Kristen E.K. Suto, Itsuki Subtropical Arctic Ocean temperatures during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum |
author_facet |
Sluijs, Appy Schouten, Stefan Pagani, Mark Woltering, Martijn Brinkhuis, Henk Damsté, Jaap S. Sinninghe Dickens, Gerald R. Huber, Matthew Reichart, Gert Jan Stein, Ruediger Matthiessen, Jens Lourens, Lucas J. Pedentchouk, Nikolai Backman, Jan Moran, Kathryn Clemens, Steve Cronin, Thomas Eynaud, Frédérique Gattacceca, Jérôme Jakobsson, Martin Jordan, Ric Kaminski, Michael King, John Koc, Nalân Martinez, Nahysa C. McInroy, David Moore, Theodore C. O'Regan, Matthew Onodera, Jonaotaro Pälike, Heiko Rea, Brice Rio, Domenico Sakamoto, Tatsuhiko Smith, David C. St John, Kristen E.K. Suto, Itsuki |
author_sort |
Sluijs, Appy |
title |
Subtropical Arctic Ocean temperatures during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum |
title_short |
Subtropical Arctic Ocean temperatures during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum |
title_full |
Subtropical Arctic Ocean temperatures during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum |
title_fullStr |
Subtropical Arctic Ocean temperatures during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum |
title_full_unstemmed |
Subtropical Arctic Ocean temperatures during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum |
title_sort |
subtropical arctic ocean temperatures during the palaeocene/eocene thermal maximum |
publisher |
DigitalCommons@URI |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/gsofacpubs/1719 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04668 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean North Pole |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean North Pole |
genre |
albedo Arctic Arctic Ocean North Pole |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic Arctic Ocean North Pole |
op_source |
Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications |
op_relation |
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/gsofacpubs/1719 doi:10.1038/nature04668 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04668 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04668 |
container_title |
Nature |
container_volume |
441 |
container_issue |
7093 |
container_start_page |
610 |
op_container_end_page |
613 |
_version_ |
1788703072052051968 |