Modelled ocean changes at the Plio-Pleistocene transition driven by Antarctic ice advance

Daniel J. Hill (), Kevin P. Bolton and Alan M. Haywood
Additional contact information
Daniel J. Hill: School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Kevin P. Bolton: Environment and Sustainability Institute, College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus
Alan M. Haywood: School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract The Earth underwent a major transition from the warm climates of the Pliocene to the Pleistocene ice ages between 3.2 and 2.6 million years ago. The intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation is the most obvious result of the Plio-Pleistocene transition. However, recent data show that the ocean also underwent a significant change, with the convergence of deep water mass properties in the North Pacific and North Atlantic Ocean. Here we show that the lack of coastal ice in the Pacific sector of Antarctica leads to major reductions in Pacific Ocean overturning and the loss of the modern North Pacific Deep Water (NPDW) mass in climate models of the warmest periods of the Pliocene. These results potentially explain the convergence of global deep water mass properties at the Plio-Pleistocene transition, as Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) became the common source.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14376 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms14376

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14376

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().