Collaborative Research: Investigation of Climate Warmth andClimate Change in the Early Eocene

始新世地球历史时期比现在更温暖，极赤道热梯度也更低。初步模拟结果表明，实现这种气候类型的唯一途径是大气中二氧化碳浓度增加和向极地热输送增加。因此，地球历史上的这段时间间隔可能对未来大气中二氧化碳增加的影响提供重要的限制。本提案要求支持利用复杂的大气环流模式实验和新的古气候数据来限制高CO2和热输运对该气候的影响。这项研究很重要，因为它将有助于分离高二氧化碳对气候的影响，这对于理解化石燃料二氧化碳对未来气候的影响非常重要。

The Eocene period of earth history was warmer and had lower pole-to-equator thermal gradients than today. Preliminary modeling results suggest that the only way to achieve this type of climate is with greater CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere and with higher poleward heat transport. Thus this interval in earth history may provide important constraints on the effects of future CO2 increases in the atmosphere. This proposal requests support to constrain the effects of higher CO2 and heat transport on this climate using sophisticated General Circulation Model experiments and new paleoclimate data. This research is important because it will help to isolate the effects of higher CO2 on climate, a topic which is very important for understanding the effects of fossil fuel CO2 on future climate.