Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/cpd-6-2687-2010
https://doi.org/10.5194/cpd-6-2687-2010
14 Dec 2010
 | 14 Dec 2010
Status: this preprint was under review for the journal CP but the revision was not accepted.

Modeling geologically abrupt climate changes in the Miocene

B. J. Haupt and D. Seidov

Abstract. The gradual cooling of the Cenozoic, including the Miocene epoch, was punctuated by many geologically abrupt warming and cooling episodes – strong deviations from the cooling trend with time span of ten to hundred thousands of years. Our working hypothesis is that some of those warming episodes at least partially might have been caused by dynamics of the emerging Antarctic Ice Sheet, which, in turn, might have caused strong changes of sea surface salinity in the Miocene Southern Ocean. Feasibility of this hypothesis is explored in a series of coupled ocean-atmosphere computer experiments. The results suggest that relatively small and geologically short-lived changes in freshwater balance in the Southern Ocean could have significantly contributed to at least two prominent warming episodes in the Miocene. Importantly, the experiments also suggest that the Southern Ocean was more sensitive to the salinity changes in the Miocene than today, which can attributed to the opening of the Central American Isthmus as a major difference between the Miocene and the present-day ocean-sea geometry.

B. J. Haupt and D. Seidov
 
Status: closed
Status: closed
AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment
Printer-friendly Version - Printer-friendly version Supplement - Supplement
 
Status: closed
Status: closed
AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment
Printer-friendly Version - Printer-friendly version Supplement - Supplement
B. J. Haupt and D. Seidov
B. J. Haupt and D. Seidov

Viewed

Total article views: 1,527 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
HTML PDF XML Total BibTeX EndNote
909 516 102 1,527 81 113
  • HTML: 909
  • PDF: 516
  • XML: 102
  • Total: 1,527
  • BibTeX: 81
  • EndNote: 113
Views and downloads (calculated since 01 Feb 2013)
Cumulative views and downloads (calculated since 01 Feb 2013)

Saved

Latest update: 28 Mar 2024