Sign on

SAO/NASA ADS Physics Abstract Service


· Find Similar Abstracts (with default settings below)
· Electronic Refereed Journal Article (HTML)
· References in the article
· Citations to the Article (239) (Citation History)
· Refereed Citations to the Article
· Reads History
·
· Translate This Page
Title:
Subtropical Arctic Ocean temperatures during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum
Authors:
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; Expedition 302 Scientists
Affiliation:
AA(Palaeoecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands), AB(Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Department of Marine Biogeochemistry and Toxicology, PO Box 59, 1790 AB, Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands), AC(Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, PO Box 208109, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA), AD(Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Department of Marine Biogeochemistry and Toxicology, PO Box 59, 1790 AB, Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands), AE(Palaeoecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands), AF(Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Department of Marine Biogeochemistry and Toxicology, PO Box 59, 1790 AB, Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands), AG(Department of Earth Sciences, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005, USA), AH(Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department and the Purdue Climate Change Research Center, Purdue University, 550 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, Indiana 47906, USA), AI(Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands), AJ(Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstrasse, 27568 Bremerhaven, Germany), AK(Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstrasse, 27568 Bremerhaven, Germany), AL(Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands), AM(Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, PO Box 208109, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA), AN(Department of Geology and Geochemistry, Stockholm University, Stockholm, SE-106 91, Sweden), AO(University of Rhode Island, Bay Campus, Narragansett, Rhode Island 02882, USA), AP(†A list of authors and affiliations appears at the end of the paper)
Publication:
Nature, Volume 441, Issue 7093, pp. 610-613 (2006). (Nature Homepage)
Publication Date:
06/2006
Origin:
NATURE
DOI:
10.1038/nature04668
Bibliographic Code:
2006Natur.441..610S

Abstract

The Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum, ~55million 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.
Bibtex entry for this abstract   Preferred format for this abstract (see Preferences)


Find Similar Abstracts:

Use: Authors
Title
Abstract Text
Return: Query Results Return    items starting with number
Query Form
Database: Astronomy
Physics
arXiv e-prints