Past ocean surface conditions suggest that over the past 800,000 years, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels typically rose on millennial timescales when Atlantic overturning was weaker and vice versa.
Sea surface temperature
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Past Climate Sensitivity Not Always Key to the Future
New research suggests that changes in continental configuration, solar brightness, and background atmospheric carbon dioxide levels all conspire to drive Earth’s climate sensitivity over geologic time.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Southern Hemisphere Sediments Show Surprising Pliocene Cyclicity
New, high-resolution paleoclimate reconstructions with 100,000-year rhythms may offer insights into how Earth’s climate system operated during a time when the planet was warmer than it is today.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Late Cretaceous Extreme Warmth at High Southern Latitudes
New proxy data indicate sea surface temperatures at high southern latitudes reached over 35°C during a period of extreme greenhouse climate that began about 100 million years ago.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
What American Samoan Corals Tell About El Niño’s History
Samoan corals record how patterns of warm/cool and more/less salty in the equatorial Pacific changed in space and time over the last 500 years.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Drove Sea Surface Temperature Change During the Pleistocene?
New information suggests that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was just one of the main drivers of warming sea surface temperatures in the Pleistocene.