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Ancient climate questions could improve today's climate predictions
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/sfsu-acq040213.php[font face=Serif]Public release date: 3-Apr-2013
Contact: Nan Broadbent
nbroadbe@sfsu.edu
415-338-7108
San Francisco State University
[font size=5]Ancient climate questions could improve today's climate predictions[/font]
[font size=3]SAN FRANCISCO -- About 4 to 5 million years ago, the Earth was warmer than today. Now that greenhouse gas pollution has the planet's temperature rising again, researchers want to know more about why this early Pliocene period was so warm, with the hopes of improving future climate predictions.
…
Ancient sea surface temperatures can be reconstructed in a variety of ways. Dekens studies sea surface temperatures by looking at the ratio of minerals like magnesium and calcium in the shells of tiny single-celled sea animals, found in sediment cores drawn from the deep sea. These ratios reflect sea temperature at the time the shells were deposited.
The records allowed the researchers to see that the early Pliocene climate was "structurally different" from today's climate, Dekens said. "It's not just that the absolute temperature in any one location is different, it's that the patterns are different."
Dekens' colleagues constructed several models to try and recreate the sea surface temperature conditions of the early Pliocene, but none of the expected "drivers" of climate that they tested could account for all the major features of the ancient climate.
…[/font][/font]
Contact: Nan Broadbent
nbroadbe@sfsu.edu
415-338-7108
San Francisco State University
[font size=5]Ancient climate questions could improve today's climate predictions[/font]
[font size=3]SAN FRANCISCO -- About 4 to 5 million years ago, the Earth was warmer than today. Now that greenhouse gas pollution has the planet's temperature rising again, researchers want to know more about why this early Pliocene period was so warm, with the hopes of improving future climate predictions.
…
Ancient sea surface temperatures can be reconstructed in a variety of ways. Dekens studies sea surface temperatures by looking at the ratio of minerals like magnesium and calcium in the shells of tiny single-celled sea animals, found in sediment cores drawn from the deep sea. These ratios reflect sea temperature at the time the shells were deposited.
The records allowed the researchers to see that the early Pliocene climate was "structurally different" from today's climate, Dekens said. "It's not just that the absolute temperature in any one location is different, it's that the patterns are different."
Dekens' colleagues constructed several models to try and recreate the sea surface temperature conditions of the early Pliocene, but none of the expected "drivers" of climate that they tested could account for all the major features of the ancient climate.
…[/font][/font]
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/ucl-apo040313.php
[font face=Serif]Public release date: 3-Apr-2013
Contact: Clare Ryan
clare.ryan@ucl.ac.uk
44-020-310-83846
University College London
[font size=5]Ancient pool of warm water questions current climate models[/font]
[font size=3]A huge pool of warm water that stretched out from Indonesia over to Africa and South America four million years ago suggests climate models might be too conservative in forecasting tropical changes.
Present in the Pliocene era, this giant mass of water would have dramatically altered rainfall in the tropics, possibly even removing the monsoon. Its decay and the consequential drying of East Africa may have been a factor in Hominid evolution.
Published in Nature today, the missing data for this phenomenon could have significant implications when predicting the future climate.
When analysing all the available sea surface temperature records spanning the past five million years, the international team – with academics from UCL and Yale – found that none of the currently proposed mechanisms can account for such conditions in the Pliocene, when tested using a climate model.
…[/font][/font]
Contact: Clare Ryan
clare.ryan@ucl.ac.uk
44-020-310-83846
University College London
[font size=5]Ancient pool of warm water questions current climate models[/font]
[font size=3]A huge pool of warm water that stretched out from Indonesia over to Africa and South America four million years ago suggests climate models might be too conservative in forecasting tropical changes.
Present in the Pliocene era, this giant mass of water would have dramatically altered rainfall in the tropics, possibly even removing the monsoon. Its decay and the consequential drying of East Africa may have been a factor in Hominid evolution.
Published in Nature today, the missing data for this phenomenon could have significant implications when predicting the future climate.
When analysing all the available sea surface temperature records spanning the past five million years, the international team – with academics from UCL and Yale – found that none of the currently proposed mechanisms can account for such conditions in the Pliocene, when tested using a climate model.
…[/font][/font]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature12003
