North Atlantic surface ocean warming and salinization in response to middle Eocene greenhouse warming.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 36696500.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.abq0110 and PMC identifier 9876553.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Quantitative reconstructions of hydrological change during ancient greenhouse warming events provide valuable insight into warmer-than-modern hydrological cycles but are limited by paleoclimate proxy uncertainties. We present sea surface temperature (SST) records and seawater oxygen isotope (δ<sup>18</sup>O<sub>sw</sub>) estimates for the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO), using coupled carbonate clumped isotope (Δ<sub>47</sub>) and oxygen isotope (δ<sup>18</sup>O<sub>c</sub>) data of well-preserved planktonic foraminifera from the North Atlantic Newfoundland Drifts. These indicate a transient ~3°C warming across the MECO, with absolute temperatures generally in accordance with trace element (Mg/Ca)-based SSTs but lower than biomarker-based SSTs for the same interval. We find a transient ~0.5‰ shift toward higher δ<sup>18</sup>O<sub>sw</sub>, which implies increased salinity in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre and potentially a poleward expansion of its northern boundary in response to greenhouse warming. These observations provide constraints on dynamic ocean response to warming events, which are consistent with theory and model simulations predicting an enhanced hydrological cycle under global warming.