Synchronous tropical and polar temperature evolution in the Eocene

• Published in: Nature (London) 2018-07, Vol.559 (7714), p.382-386
• Main Authors: Cramwinckel, Margot J., Huber, Matthew, Kocken, Ilja J., Agnini, Claudia, Bijl, Peter K., Bohaty, Steven M., Frieling, Joost, Goldner, Aaron, Hilgen, Frederik J., Kip, Elizabeth L., Peterse, Francien, van der Ploeg, Robin, Röhl, Ursula, Schouten, Stefan, Sluijs, Appy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 704/106/2738; 704/106/413; Air pollution; Amplification; Atlantic Ocean; Atmospheric carbon dioxide; Atmospheric temperature; Biomarkers; Carbon dioxide; Carbon Dioxide - analysis; Carbon dioxide atmospheric concentrations; Carbon dioxide concentration; Climate; Climate Change; Climate models; Climate trends; Climatic evolution; Computer simulation; Cooling; Earth; Eocene; Eocene Epoch; Estimates; Evolution; Future climates; Geologic Sediments - chemistry; Glaciers; Global temperature changes; Global temperatures; Greenhouse effect; Greenhouse gases; History; History, Ancient; Humanities and Social Sciences; Ice caps; Letter; multidisciplinary; Ocean circulation; Ocean currents; Ocean temperature; Oceans; Paleoclimate; Paleoclimatology; Proxy; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sea level; Sea surface temperature; Seawater - analysis; Sediments; Sediments (Geology); Surface temperature; Temperature; Temperature changes; Temperature effects; Trends; Tropical Climate; Tropical climates; Warm climates; Water circulation
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0272-2

Palaeoclimate reconstructions of periods with warm climates and high atmospheric CO 2 concentrations are crucial for developing better projections of future climate change. Deep-ocean 1 , 2 and high-latitude 3 palaeotemperature proxies demonstrate that the Eocene epoch (56 to 34 million years ago) encompasses the warmest interval of the past 66 million years, followed by cooling towards the eventual establishment of ice caps on Antarctica. Eocene polar warmth is well established, so the main obstacle in quantifying the evolution of key climate parameters, such as global average temperature change and its polar amplification, is the lack of continuous high-quality tropical temperature reconstructions. Here we present a continuous Eocene equatorial sea surface temperature record, based on biomarker palaeothermometry applied on Atlantic Ocean sediments. We combine this record with the sparse existing data 4 – 6 to construct a 26-million-year multi-proxy, multi-site stack of Eocene tropical climate evolution. We find that tropical and deep-ocean temperatures changed in parallel, under the influence of both long-term climate trends and short-lived events. This is consistent with the hypothesis that greenhouse gas forcing 7 , 8 , rather than changes in ocean circulation 9 , 10 , was the main driver of Eocene climate. Moreover, we observe a strong linear relationship between tropical and deep-ocean temperatures, which implies a constant polar amplification factor throughout the generally ice-free Eocene. Quantitative comparison with fully coupled climate model simulations indicates that global average temperatures were about 29, 26, 23 and 19 degrees Celsius in the early, early middle, late middle and late Eocene, respectively, compared to the preindustrial temperature of 14.4 degrees Celsius. Finally, combining proxy- and model-based temperature estimates with available CO 2 reconstructions 8 yields estimates of an Eocene Earth system sensitivity of 0.9 to 2.3 kelvin per watt per square metre at 68 per cent probability, consistent with the high end of previous estimates 11 . A 26-million-year record of equatorial sea surface temperatures reveals synchronous changes of tropical and polar temperatures during the Eocene epoch forced by variations in concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, with a constant degree of polar amplification.