ALBERT

Beschreibung: The Late Cretaceous was much warmer than today. There was no significant ice at high latitudes, meridional thermal gradients were low, and continental interiors remained warm during winter. Late Cretaceous atmospheric C02 concentrations were about four times greater than today and an enhanced "greenhouse" effect contributed to the overall warmth of the Late Cretaceous. However , increases in atmospheric C02 tend to increase temperatures at all latitudes and do not explain the very low thermal gradients recognized in the geologic record. Increased poleward ocean heat transport has been cited as a mechanism for maintaining low meridional thermal gradients during the Cretaceous. However , ocean heat transport values larger than the present day are difficult to reconcile. In addition, low meridional thermal gradients suggest sluggish atmospheric circulation, implying that the advection of heat from the warm oceans into the continental interiors was limited. In general, paleoclimate simulations using Atmospheric General Circulations Models (AGCMs) have not been successful in simulating the low meridional thermal gradients and warm winter continental interiors of the Cretaceous, forcing the concept of "equability" to be questioned. Until recently, the physical effects of vegetation on pre-Quaternary climates have largely been ignored. Terrestrial ecosystems influence global climate by affecting the exchange of energy, water, and momentum between the land surface and the atmosphere. In a new approach to pre-Quaternary paleoclimate modeling, Campanian (80 Ma) climate and vegetation have been simulated using a global climate model (GENESIS Version 2.0), coupled to a predictive vegetation model (EVE), resulting in a realistic simulation of Late Cretaceous climate. The predicted distribution of Late Cretaceous vegetation played an important role in the maintenance of low meridional thermal gradients, polar warmth, and equable continental interiors. High latitude forests reduced albedo, especially during snowcovered months, and increased net surface radiation and latent heat flux.

Beschreibung: A 1138-meter sediment core (AND-2A) recovered from the Southern McMurdo Sound sector of the Ross Sea comprises a near-continuous record of Antarctic climate and ice sheet variability through the Early to early Middle Miocene (20.2 to 14.5 million years ago), including an interval of inferred sustained global warmth known as the Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO). The record preserves 55 sedimentary sequences that reflect cycles of glacial advance and retreat. A new analysis of proxy environmental data from the AND-2A core, and synthesis with regional geological information, show that the early to middle Miocene Antarctic climate ranged from cold polar conditions, similar to Antarctica during the Holocene, to those that characterise modern sub-polar environments. Four disconformities that punctuate the sedimentary sequence coincide with regionally mapped seismic discontinuities and reflect transient expansion of marine-based ice across the Ross Sea. The timing of these major marine-based ice sheet advances correlates with shifts in highly-resolved deep sea isotope records and major drops in eustatic sea-level indicating the global nature of these events. In contrast, three distinct intervals in the core indicate that this high latitude site was periodically influenced by an ice sheet margin that had retreated beyond the coastline. These relatively large-scale changes in climate and ice sheet extent occurred under atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations that generally varied between 300 to 500 ppm. Therefore, our reconstructions suggest that Antarctica’s climate and ice sheets were sensitive to modest changes in greenhouse gas forcing and support previous studies, which indicate that marine-based portions of theWAIS and EAIS can retreat under climatic conditions that were similar to those projected for our future under current levels of atmospheric CO2.