Publication Abstracts
Roberts et al. 2011
Roberts, C.D.,
, and A.K. Tripati, 2011: Sensitivity of seawater oxygen isotopes to climatic and tectonic boundary conditions in an early Paleogene simulation with GISS ModelE-R. Paleoceanography, 26, PA4203, doi:10.1029/2010PA002025.An isotope-enabled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model (GISS ModelE-R) is used to estimate the spatial gradients of the oxygen isotopic composition of seawater (δ18Osw, where δ is the deviation from a known reference material in per mil) during the early Paleogene (45-65 Ma). Understanding the response of δ18Osw to changes in climatic and tectonic boundary conditions is important because records of carbonate δ18Oswocument changes in hydrology, as well as changes in temperature and global ice-volume. We present results from an early Paleogene configuration of ModelE-R which indicate that spatial gradients of surface ocean δ18Osw during this period could have been significantly different to those in the modern ocean. The differences inferred from ModelE-R are sufficient to change early Paleogene sea surface temperature estimates derived from primary carbonate δ18O signatures by more than ±2°C in large areas of the ocean. In the North Atlantic, Indian, and Southern Oceans, the differences in δ18Osw inferred from our simulation with ModelE-R are in direct contrast with those from another δ18O-tracing model study which used different, but equally plausible, early Paleogene boundary conditions (Tindall, J., R. Flecker, P. Valdes, D. N. Schmidt, P. Markwick, and J. Harris [2010]. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 292, 265-273). The large differences in δ18Osw between preindustrial and early Paleogene simulations, and between simulations with different models, emphasizes the sensitivity of δ18Osw to differences in climatic and tectonic boundary conditions. For this reason, absolute estimates of Eocene/Paleocene temperature derived from carbonate δ18O are likely to have larger uncertainties than are usually assumed.
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BibTeX Citation
@article{ro07110b, author={Roberts, C. D. and LeGrande, A. N. and Tripati, A. K.}, title={Sensitivity of seawater oxygen isotopes to climatic and tectonic boundary conditions in an early Paleogene simulation with GISS ModelE-R}, year={2011}, journal={Paleoceanography}, volume={26}, pages={PA4203}, doi={10.1029/2010PA002025}, }
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RIS Citation
TY - JOUR ID - ro07110b AU - Roberts, C. D. AU - LeGrande, A. N. AU - Tripati, A. K. PY - 2011 TI - Sensitivity of seawater oxygen isotopes to climatic and tectonic boundary conditions in an early Paleogene simulation with GISS ModelE-R JA - Paleoceanography JO - Paleoceanography VL - 26 SP - PA4203 DO - 10.1029/2010PA002025 ER -
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