Antarctic Ice Sheet variability across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary climate transition

Simone Galeotti; Robert DeConto; Timothy Naish; Paolo Stocchi; Fabio Florindo; Mark Pagani; Peter Barrett; Steven M. Bohaty; Luca Lanci; David Pollard; Sonia Sandroni; Franco M. Talarico; James C. Zachos

doi:10.1126/science.aab0669

Antarctic Ice Sheet variability across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary climate transition

Simone Galeotti, Robert DeConto, Timothy Naish, Paolo Stocchi, Fabio Florindo, Mark Pagani, Peter Barrett, Steven M. Bohaty, Luca Lanci, David Pollard, Sonia Sandroni, Franco M. Talarico, James C. Zachos

Earth and Environmental Systems Institute

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

128 Scopus citations

Abstract

About 34 million years ago, Earth's climate cooled and an ice sheet formed on Antarctica as atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) fell below ∼750 parts per million (ppm). Sedimentary cycles from a drill core in the western Ross Sea provide direct evidence of orbitally controlled glacial cycles between 34 million and 31 million years ago. Initially, under atmospheric CO₂ levels of >600 ppm, a smaller Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS), restricted to the terrestrial continent, was highly responsive to local insolation forcing. A more stable, continental-scale ice sheet calving at the coastline did not form until ∼32.8 million years ago, coincident with the earliest time that atmospheric CO₂ levels fell below ∼600 ppm. Our results provide insight into the potential of the AIS for threshold behavior and have implications for its sensitivity to atmospheric CO₂ concentrations above present-day levels.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	76-80
Number of pages	5
Journal	Science
Volume	352
Issue number	6281
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aab0669
State	Published - Apr 1 2016

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10.1126/science.aab0669

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title = "Antarctic Ice Sheet variability across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary climate transition",

abstract = "About 34 million years ago, Earth's climate cooled and an ice sheet formed on Antarctica as atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) fell below ∼750 parts per million (ppm). Sedimentary cycles from a drill core in the western Ross Sea provide direct evidence of orbitally controlled glacial cycles between 34 million and 31 million years ago. Initially, under atmospheric CO2 levels of >600 ppm, a smaller Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS), restricted to the terrestrial continent, was highly responsive to local insolation forcing. A more stable, continental-scale ice sheet calving at the coastline did not form until ∼32.8 million years ago, coincident with the earliest time that atmospheric CO2 levels fell below ∼600 ppm. Our results provide insight into the potential of the AIS for threshold behavior and have implications for its sensitivity to atmospheric CO2 concentrations above present-day levels.",

author = "Simone Galeotti and Robert DeConto and Timothy Naish and Paolo Stocchi and Fabio Florindo and Mark Pagani and Peter Barrett and Bohaty, \{Steven M.\} and Luca Lanci and David Pollard and Sonia Sandroni and Talarico, \{Franco M.\} and Zachos, \{James C.\}",

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T1 - Antarctic Ice Sheet variability across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary climate transition

AU - Galeotti, Simone

AU - DeConto, Robert

AU - Naish, Timothy

AU - Stocchi, Paolo

AU - Florindo, Fabio

AU - Pagani, Mark

AU - Barrett, Peter

AU - Bohaty, Steven M.

AU - Lanci, Luca

AU - Pollard, David

AU - Sandroni, Sonia

AU - Talarico, Franco M.

AU - Zachos, James C.

PY - 2016/4/1

Y1 - 2016/4/1

N2 - About 34 million years ago, Earth's climate cooled and an ice sheet formed on Antarctica as atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) fell below ∼750 parts per million (ppm). Sedimentary cycles from a drill core in the western Ross Sea provide direct evidence of orbitally controlled glacial cycles between 34 million and 31 million years ago. Initially, under atmospheric CO2 levels of >600 ppm, a smaller Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS), restricted to the terrestrial continent, was highly responsive to local insolation forcing. A more stable, continental-scale ice sheet calving at the coastline did not form until ∼32.8 million years ago, coincident with the earliest time that atmospheric CO2 levels fell below ∼600 ppm. Our results provide insight into the potential of the AIS for threshold behavior and have implications for its sensitivity to atmospheric CO2 concentrations above present-day levels.

AB - About 34 million years ago, Earth's climate cooled and an ice sheet formed on Antarctica as atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) fell below ∼750 parts per million (ppm). Sedimentary cycles from a drill core in the western Ross Sea provide direct evidence of orbitally controlled glacial cycles between 34 million and 31 million years ago. Initially, under atmospheric CO2 levels of >600 ppm, a smaller Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS), restricted to the terrestrial continent, was highly responsive to local insolation forcing. A more stable, continental-scale ice sheet calving at the coastline did not form until ∼32.8 million years ago, coincident with the earliest time that atmospheric CO2 levels fell below ∼600 ppm. Our results provide insight into the potential of the AIS for threshold behavior and have implications for its sensitivity to atmospheric CO2 concentrations above present-day levels.

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EP - 80

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ER -

Antarctic Ice Sheet variability across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary climate transition

Abstract

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