USGS Open-File Report 94-588
Sea-ice absence and 3°C marine seas -- Is this all it takes?
- David M. Harwood
- Department of Geology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln
- Aradhna Srivastav
- Department of Geology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln
- Diane M. Winters
- Department of Geology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln
Paleobiogeographic information from the Antarctic shelf and Southern Ocean
suggests that early Pliocene marine temperatures were sufficiently high to
reduce and perhaps remove sea-ice from the Southern Ocean and most
Antarctic regions. The absence of a seasonal blanket of sea-ice leads to
significant atmospheric warming of the Antarctic region, as oceanic heat
is available throughout the year. This factor, as well a comparison of
annual temperature trends for Southern Ocean islands in thermal regimes
similar to that of the Antarctic Pliocene, suggest an increase of mean
annual atmospheric temperatures around Antarctica more than 15°C higher
than today. This places the Antarctic ice sheet into a dynamic glacial
regime, as indicated by recent glacial models, and is more than sufficient
to support the growth of Nothofagus in the Transantarctic Mountains.
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