Climate Sensitivity to Obliquity Forcing During the Pliocene Climate

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This project tests the hypothesis that enhanced climate sensitivity to obliquity forcing, which is known to have begun ~3Ma, can be linked to a change in the mean state of the tropical Pacific surface ocean and the associated change in the oceanic heat balance. The PI will compare high-resolution planktonic and benthic stable isotope and alkenone records from two sites, representing heat gain (equatorial Pacific) and heat loss (North Pacific) regions. The time period of interest spans the late Pliocene transition (3.6-1.8 Ma). The project will be the basis for one PhD dissertation and an undergraduate honors thesis, and the results will be incorporated into a module of the Deep Earth Academy?s ?School of Rock?.