Detailed information on greenhouse gasses and a subtropical heat wave at the North Pole 55 million years ago is providing new insights into both the Earth's past and its possible future, according to reports in the June 1 issue of Nature.
An expedition to the Arctic Ocean in 2004 by a team of scientists aboard a fleet of icebreakers collected samples by drilling into the floor of the ocean. The project was part of an international research effort, the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, which explores the Earth's history and structure as recorded in seafloor sediments and rocks. This was the first time that core samples were taken from the floor of the Arctic Ocean.
"Remains of ancient plant and animal life found in cylindrical core samples from the ocean floor have given us critical new information about the history of the Arctic Ocean and surrounding region," says Mark Pagani, assistant professor of geology and geophysics at Yale and a co-author on the study. The other co-authors were Matthew Huber, an assistant professor of earth and atmospheric sciences in Purdue University's College of Science, and Henk Brinkhuis, a marine palynologist and biogeologist from Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
During the warmest time interval, the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), sea surface temperatures at the North Pole reached as high as 23°C, or around 73°F, as determined by a novel technique the authors used to estimate temperature. Today's mean annual temperature is around 20°C, or 4°F.
The scientists also discovered the remains of tiny algae called dinoflagellates, belonging to the species Apectodinium, which has usually been found in warmer regions of the world. The presence of Apectodinium during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum confirms subtropical conditions in the Arctic during this time, note the scientists.
The PETM was caused by a huge release of a greenhouse gas, possibly carbon dioxide or methane, into the atmosphere. If methane was the source of carbon, global warming was ultimately the result of higher carbon dioxide concentrations, as the methane would have been rapidly converted to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
"Many argue whether or not rising carbon dioxide concentrations will cause global warming. But, those of us who study Earth history know that there is a direct link between Earth's temperature and carbon dioxide," says Pagani. "The PETM represents the clearest evidence for carbon dioxide-induced global warming in the geologic record."
He adds, "You can look at the PETM as a natural experiment involving carbon dioxide and climate -- that has already been performed. We have a good sense that global temperatures just before the PETM were very high, much higher than today. High global temperatures were the result of high carbon dioxide levels."
The concentration of carbon dioxide in today's atmosphere is about 380 parts per million. According to Pagani's work published in the journal Science last summer, the concentration of carbon dioxide 55 million years ago is estimated to have been about 2,000 parts per million.
"What is really important is that even though global temperatures were high before the PETM, temperatures continued to rise as more carbon dioxide was released into the atmosphere," Pagani says. "This should serve as an example and evidence for how temperatures will change as we continue to pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere."
While the climate models had predicted that researchers would discover the Arctic Ocean's freshwater past, the models have underestimated by at least 10 degrees how hot the Earth would have been during that time.
Another important discovery of the study was that five million years later, at around 50 million years ago, the Arctic Ocean was frequently covered with dense mats of the freshwater fern Azolla. According to Brinkhuis, "What these findings say is that the Arctic Ocean must have been isolated, or nearly cut off, from the Atlantic Ocean by land masses that later shifted into the present continents and prevented salt water from ocean surface currents from reaching there. Imagine that the Arctic Ocean was a giant lake, with this vegetation growing in it."
"The real point," Huber notes, "is that climate change is natural, and it's easy to set in motion. All it takes is an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases."
The scientists say it is possible that, in addition to greenhouse gas concentrations, polar clouds or hurricane-induced ocean heat transport were involved, since the tropics maintained livable conditions during the PETM. Mechanisms that feed back onto global warming also are poorly understood and poorly represented in current models. These concerns will continue to be explored in future research.
The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program was funded by the National Science Foundation; Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling; and the People's Republic of China Ministry of Science and Technology.
-- By Janet Rettig Emanuel
T H I S
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
PBS news anchor elected as trustee
Ceremony formally marks Rose Center opening
New Peabody hall offering high-tech lessons about Earth and space
Scientists believe that green tea may be key to 'Asian paradox'
COMMENCEMENT 2006
University celebrates its 305th graduation
Baccalaureate Address
Honorary Degrees
Other student awards
ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS
James Gustave Speth named Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor
James Baron comes to SOM as the William S. Beinecke Professor
New exhibit asks: What did Shakespeare really look like?
Samples from ocean floor at the North Pole yield clues . . .
MEDICAL SCHOOL NEWS
Nation's first manual for treating radiation victims developed
Animals may provide warning of bioterrorist attack, say researchers
Researchers uncovering clues to drug resistance in ovarian cancer
Scientists find way to use intestinal cells to stop . . .
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Arts & Ideas festival adds a dash of New Orleans spice
Art & Architecture Library taking up temporary residence on Crown Street
Forum explores governmental budgetary processes in China
Library events celebrate aviator and author Anne Morrow Lindberg
Making the Grade
Uncovering Ingrained Attitudes About Obesity
Nursing School research shows ideas about ideal weight . . .
Rudd Center survey reveals that many people would give up . . .
Artist's exhibit at Slifka Center will examine complexity of faith
Jaroslav Pelikan, renowned scholar of church history
Event will bring bellringers from near and far to the Yale campus
Gigantic balloon creatures to invade Hall of Dinosaurs
Celebrated performer to teach summer flute institute
Drama production will highlight work by New Haven students
Reading aloud
Campus Notes
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