Modeling geographic impacts on early Eocene ocean temperature

Raymond G. Najjar, Giang T. Nong, Dan Seidov, William H. Peterson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

A general circulation model is used to evaluate the impact of geographic differences between the early Eocene and the present day on ocean thermal structure. The model includes reconstructed Eocene bathymetry and surface thermal boundary conditions that mimic a diffusive atmosphere. The model estimates that bathymetric changes alone caused surface waters to cool by 3-4°C in high latitudes and warm by 1-2°C in low latitudes over the last 55 million years, which would account for as much as half (∼4-5°C) of the increase in the meridional sea surface temperature gradient during this time. Other changes include a cooling (∼2°C) of deep ocean waters, a warming of low-latitude intermediate waters (∼2°C), and decreases in Southern Ocean zonal sea surface temperature gradients.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number1750
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume29
Issue number15
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2002

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Geophysics
  • Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)

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