Chandler 2009

Chandler, M.A., 2009: Mid-Pliocene warming. In Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments. V. Gornitz, Ed., Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, pp. 566-568.

The middle Pliocene is the most recent period in Earth history with temperatures as warm as those we expect Earth to experience by the latter part of the 21st Century. Yet in many respects the mid-Pliocene is very much like the modern world. Terrestrial geography and ocean basin configurations are largely unchanged, many floral and faunal species are still extant, and altered internal and external forcings are not factors as they would have been for more ancient periods. While most scientists are confident that we have identified the primary forcinggs triggering the present warming trend, no one is certain of the ultimate climate impact of those forcings, or their associated feedback processes. The middle Pliocene presents us with somewhat the reverse situation: extensive global data reveal the mature state of a warmer world, essentially the resulting climate impact of a prior global warming. The forcings that led to Pliocene warming may only be partially identified, but in both the mid-Pliocene and the present day, the myriad of feedbacks that exist between the forcing triggers and their eventual impacts remain the topic of extensive research.

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Chandler, M.A.: Mid-Pliocene warming, in: Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments, edited by Gornitz, V., Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series, 566-568, Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands, 2009.

Chandler, M.A. (2009), Mid-Pliocene warming, in Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments, Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series, edited by V. Gornitz, pp. 566-568, Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands.

Chandler, M.A., 2009: Mid-Pliocene warming. In Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments. V. Gornitz, Ed., Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, pp. 566-568.

Chandler, M.A. 2009, in Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments, ed. Gornitz, V., Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series, 566 (Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer).

Chandler MA. Mid-Pliocene warming. In: Gornitz V, editor. Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments, Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series, pp. 566-568. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer; 2009.

M.A. Chandler, In Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments, V. Gornitz, Ed. (Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series, Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands, 2009), pp. 566-568.