Abstract
Abstract. Since the middle Miocene (15 Ma, million years ago), the Earth's climate has undergone a long-term cooling trend, characterised by a reduction in ocean temperatures of up to 7–8 ∘C. The causes of this cooling are primarily thought to be due to tectonic plate movements driving changes in large-scale ocean circulation patterns, and hence heat redistribution, in conjunction with a drop in atmospheric greenhouse gas forcing (and attendant ice-sheet growth and feedback). In this study, we assess the potential to constrain the evolving patterns of global ocean circulation and cooling over the last 15 Ma by assimilating a variety of marine sediment proxy data in an Earth system model. We do this by first compiling surface and benthic ocean temperature and benthic carbon-13 (δ13C) data in a series of seven time slices spaced at approximately 2.5 Myr intervals. We then pair this with a corresponding series of tectonic and climate boundary condition reconstructions in the cGENIE (“muffin” release) Earth system model, including alternative possibilities for an open vs. closed Central American Seaway (CAS) from 10 Ma onwards. In the cGENIE model, we explore uncertainty in greenhouse gas forcing and the magnitude of North Pacific to North Atlantic salinity flux adjustment required in the model to create an Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) of a specific strength, via a series of 12 (one for each tectonic reconstruction) 2D parameter ensembles. Each ensemble member is then tested against the observed global temperature and benthic δ13C patterns. We identify that a relatively high CO2 equivalent forcing of 1120 ppm is required at 15 Ma in cGENIE to reproduce proxy temperature estimates in the model, noting that this CO2 forcing is dependent on the cGENIE model's climate sensitivity and that it incorporates the effects of all greenhouse gases. We find that reproducing the observed long-term cooling trend requires a progressively declining greenhouse gas forcing in the model. In parallel to this, the strength of the AMOC increases with time despite a reduction in the salinity of the surface North Atlantic over the cooling period, attributable to falling intensity of the hydrological cycle and to lowering polar temperatures, both caused by CO2-driven global cooling. We also find that a closed CAS from 10 Ma to present shows better agreement between benthic δ13C patterns and our particular series of model configurations and data. A final outcome of our analysis is a pronounced ca. 1.5 ‰ decline occurring in atmospheric (and ca. 1 ‰ ocean surface) δ13C that could be used to inform future δ13C-based proxy reconstructions.
Highlights
Introduction and backgroundSince the middle Miocene (∼ 15 Ma), the Earth has experienced a pronounced and quasi-continuous period of global cooling, characterised by an expansion of ice sheets over Antarctica and the subsequent establishment of the Greenland ice sheet (Zachos et al, 2008; Cramer et al, 2011)
Because the land–sea mask progressively changes across the seven time slices, we create a common mask for the purpose of salt transfer: first, we identify all of the grid points that are ocean (“wet” points) across all configurations and that lie northwards of the northernmost extent of the Central American Seaway (CAS), and we add salinity to these; second, we identify all of the grid points outside of the North Atlantic that are ocean in all configurations, and we remove salinity from these; the total FwF value is divided evenly across all grid points in the North Atlantic and “elsewhere” such that global ocean salinity is always conserved
Bathymetry, albedo, and wind fields have a direct effect on benthic ocean temperature, with 15 Ma having a tendency toward a warmer deep ocean compared with other time slices, even for the same CO2 and FwF in the open-CAS cases
Summary
Since the middle Miocene (∼ 15 Ma), the Earth has experienced a pronounced and quasi-continuous period of global cooling, characterised by an expansion of ice sheets over Antarctica and the subsequent establishment of the Greenland ice sheet (Zachos et al, 2008; Cramer et al, 2011). Terrestrial temperature proxies indicate that the Miocene was significantly warmer than the present day (Pound et al, 2012, and references therein). Early proxy estimates of atmospheric CO2 in the mid-Miocene show that levels may have been similar to or even lower than present (Pagani et al, 2005, Pearson and Palmer 2000). Regardless, falling atmospheric CO2 is thought to have been a driver of global cooling since the middle Miocene (Rae et al, 2021)
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