Collaborative Research: Rapid Climate Change During the Miocene Climate Optimum: A Proxy-Model Comparison

中新世气候适宜期，在1800万至1300万年前，是地球最近的长期变暖事件之一，全球表面温度峰值比现在高出约7摄氏度（13华氏度），其特征是突然变化的间隔。尽管地表温度升高，但二氧化碳浓度与未来几十年的预测相似，而全球大陆的配置与当今非常相似。因此，这段气候变暖的时期可能为了解未来的气候变化提供了一个有用的基准。这项研究的科学结果将有助于澄清气候变暖对南美季风系统的影响，可能会对目前依赖其水资源的数百万人产生影响。通过一系列大型公开讲座，该项目还将提高人们对气候模型在为未来气候和环境变化提供信息方面的力量的认识。此外，该项目将为本科生和研究生课程提供内容，并帮助发展康涅狄格大学（UConn）新生的地球科学系。随着这些新数据的潜在影响和相关的教育组件，这个项目将显着造福社会。虽然了解这个中新世气候最佳（MCO）的气候是有据可查的，通过各种代理记录，大陆记录仍然解决不了。这种数据差距阻碍了我们区分陆地和海洋之间温度响应的能力，从而限制了我们将MCO用作未来气候变化模拟的能力。因此，该项目将分析保存在阿根廷西北部关键地点的古沙海和古河流和湖泊沉积物的地球化学、孢粉学、物理沉积学和古生物学中的中安第斯山脉的古气候记录。研究小组将联合收割机与一系列中新世敏感性实验结合起来，共同体地球系统模型，以测试二氧化碳驱动的变暖是否能够产生地球化学和古环境数据，或者是否需要其他机制，如南极冰量和轨道变化。这一多学科研究将深入了解气候变暖下快速气候变化的原因和反应。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Miocene Climatic Optimum, between 18 and 13 million years ago, is one of Earth's most recent prolonged warming events with peak global surface temperature about 7 degrees Celsius (13 degrees Fahrenheit) above present and characterized by intervals of abrupt variability. Despite this warmer surface temperature, carbon dioxide concentrations were similar to forecasts of the coming decades while the configuration of continents on the global was quite similar to present-day. Therefore, this period of warmer climate may provide a useful benchmark to understand future climate change. The scientific results of this research will help clarify the impacts of warming on the South American Monsoon System may have on millions of people that presently depend on it for water resources. Through a series of large public lectures, this project will also increase awareness about the power of climate models for informing on future climate and environmental change. Furthermore, the project will provide content for undergraduate- and graduate-level courses and help grow the nascent Department of Geosciences at the University of Connecticut (UConn). With the potential impacts of this new data and the associated educational components, this project stands to significantly benefit society.Although understanding of the climate of this Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO) is well documented through a variety of proxy records, the continental record remains poorly resolved. This data gap hinders our ability to distinguish the temperature responses between land and sea, and thus, limits our ability to use the MCO as an analog for future climate change. This project will therefore analyze the record of paleoclimate from the Central Andes preserved in the geochemistry, palynology, physical sedimentology and paleontology of ancient sand seas and paleo river and lake deposits at key localities in NW Argentina. The research team will combine this effort with a series of Miocene sensitivity experiments with the Community Earth System Model to test if CO2 driven warming is able to produce the geochemical and paleoenvironmental data or if other mechanisms, such as Antarctic ice volume and orbital changes, are required. This multidisciplinary research will provide insights into the causes and responses of rapid climate changes under climate warming.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.