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https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3010
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3010
27 Sep 2024
 | 27 Sep 2024

Mean ocean temperature change and decomposition of the benthic δ18O record over the last 4.5 Myr

Peter U. Clark, Jeremy D. Shakun, Yair Rosenthal, Chenyu Zhu, Jonathan M. Gregory, Peter Köhler, Zhengyu Liu, Daniel P. Schrag, and Patrick J. Bartlein

Abstract. We use a recent compilation of global mean sea surface temperature changes (ΔGMSST) over the last 4.5 Myr together with independent proxy-based reconstructions of bottom water or deep ocean temperatures to infer changes in mean ocean temperature (ΔMOT). We find that the ratio of ΔMOT/ΔGMSST, which is also a measure of ocean heat storage efficiency, was around 0.5 before the Middle Pleistocene Transition (MPT, 1.5–0.9 Ma), but was 1 thereafter. This finding is also supported when using our ΔMOT to decompose a global mean benthic δ18O stack into its temperature and seawater components. However, further corrections in benthic δ18O, probably due to a long-term diagenetic overprint, are necessary to explain reconstructed Pliocene sea level highstands. Finally, we develop a theoretical understanding of why the ocean heat storage efficiency changed over the Plio-Pleistocene. According to our conceptual model, heat uptake and temperature in the non-polar upper ocean is mainly driven by wind, while changes in the deeper ocean in both polar and non-polar waters occur due to high-latitude deepwater formation. We propose that deepwater formation was substantially reduced prior to the MPT, effectively decreasing ΔMOT with respect to ΔGMSST. We attribute these changes in deepwater formation across the MPT to long-term cooling which caused a change starting ~1.5 Ma from a highly stratified Southern Ocean due to warm SSTs and reduced sea-ice extent to a Southern Ocean which, due to colder SSTs and increased sea-ice extent, had a greater vertical exchange of water masses.

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Peter U. Clark, Jeremy D. Shakun, Yair Rosenthal, Chenyu Zhu, Jonathan M. Gregory, Peter Köhler, Zhengyu Liu, Daniel P. Schrag, and Patrick J. Bartlein

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-3010', Lorraine Lisiecki, 16 Nov 2024
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-3010', Anonymous Referee #2, 17 Dec 2024

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-3010', Lorraine Lisiecki, 16 Nov 2024
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-3010', Anonymous Referee #2, 17 Dec 2024
Peter U. Clark, Jeremy D. Shakun, Yair Rosenthal, Chenyu Zhu, Jonathan M. Gregory, Peter Köhler, Zhengyu Liu, Daniel P. Schrag, and Patrick J. Bartlein
Peter U. Clark, Jeremy D. Shakun, Yair Rosenthal, Chenyu Zhu, Jonathan M. Gregory, Peter Köhler, Zhengyu Liu, Daniel P. Schrag, and Patrick J. Bartlein

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This Milankovic Medalist paper represents a tour de force, addressing a complex yet crucial question: the evolution of global climate over the past 4.5 million years.Drawing from the insights of the two reviewers, the paper makes a significant contribution to the geoscience community by providing a self-consistent decomposition of global mean benthic δ18O into its temperature and seawater (ice volume) components. This approach is consistent with independent estimates of global mean sea surface temperature (GMSST) and sea level constraints.The analysis incorporates numerous high-resolution records spanning this period and highlights two distinct climatic regimes: • Before 1.5 million years ago, a warm period characterized by smaller-amplitude ice sheet and sea level cycles, primarily driven by obliquity timescales. • Following the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT), i.e. after 1 million years, a well-documented increase in the amplitude of glacial cycles became evident. The central finding of the study is that, during the MPT, there was a shift in ocean heat storage efficiency (HSE). Prior to this transition, HSE remained low and constant, whereas after the MPT, it doubled and stabilized at a higher value. This finding is supported by the observation of subtle differential changes in global mean SST and mean ocean temperature (MOT), which appear to be time-dependent. These observations suggest a potential fundamental shift in oceanic heat storage dynamics.
Short summary
We reconstruct changes in mean ocean temperature (ΔMOT) over the last 4.5 Myr. We find that the ratio of ΔMOT to changes in global mean sea surface temperature was around 0.5 before the Middle Pleistocene Transition but was 1 thereafter. We subtract our ΔMOT reconstruction from the global δ18O record to derive the δ18O of seawater. Finally, we develop a theoretical understanding of why the ratio of ΔMOT/ΔGMSST changed over the Plio-Pleistocene.
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