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Published May 6, 2014 | Published + Supplemental Material
Journal Article Open

Pronounced zonal heterogeneity in Eocene southern high-latitude sea surface temperatures

Abstract

Paleoclimate studies suggest that increased global warmth during the Eocene epoch was greatly amplified at high latitudes, a state that climate models cannot fully reproduce. However, proxy estimates of Eocene near-Antarctic sea surface temperatures (SSTs) have produced widely divergent results at similar latitudes, with SSTs above 20 °C in the southwest Pacific contrasting with SSTs between 5 and 15 °C in the South Atlantic. Validation of this zonal temperature difference has been impeded by uncertainties inherent to the individual paleotemperature proxies applied at these sites. Here, we present multiproxy data from Seymour Island, near the Antarctic Peninsula, that provides well-constrained evidence for annual SSTs of 10–17 °C (1σ SD) during the middle and late Eocene. Comparison of the same paleotemperature proxy at Seymour Island and at the East Tasman Plateau indicate the presence of a large and consistent middle-to-late Eocene SST gradient of ∼7 °C between these two sites located at similar paleolatitudes. Intermediate-complexity climate model simulations suggest that enhanced oceanic heat transport in the South Pacific, driven by deep-water formation in the Ross Sea, was largely responsible for the observed SST gradient. These results indicate that very warm SSTs, in excess of 18 °C, did not extend uniformly across the Eocene southern high latitudes, and suggest that thermohaline circulation may partially control the distribution of high-latitude ocean temperatures in greenhouse climates. The pronounced zonal SST heterogeneity evident in the Eocene cautions against inferring past meridional temperature gradients using spatially limited data within given latitudinal bands.

Additional Information

© 2014 National Academy of Sciences. Published online before print April 21, 2014. Edited by Mark H. Thiemens, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, and approved March 21, 2014 (received for review November 15, 2013). Gerard Olack, Dominic Colosi, and Glendon Hunsinger provided assistance with clumped isotope measurements; Shikma Zaarur provided advice on clumped isotope data analysis; Christy Visaggi, Michelle Casey, and Steven Roof provided modern bivalve samples; and Natasja Welters and Jan van Tongeren (Utrecht University) assisted with palynological preparations. We thank two anonymous reviewers for constructive commentary. This work was supported by US National Science Foundation Grants EAR-0842482 (to H.P.A.) and PLR-0125409 (to L.C.I.), and Statoil and European Research Council Starting Grant 259627 (to A.S.). Author contributions: P.M.J.D., H.P.A., and L.C.I. designed research; P.M.J.D., A.J.P.H., and W.P.S. performed research; P.M.J.D., H.P.A., L.C.I., A.J.P.H., W.P.S., A.S., S.S., and M.P. analyzed data; and P.M.J.D. wrote the paper. The authors declare no conflict of interest. This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1321441111/-/DCSupplemental.

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Published - PNAS-2014-Douglas-6582-7.pdf

Supplemental Material - pnas.201321441SI.pdf

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August 20, 2023
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