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Much of our understanding of Earth's past climate comes from the measurement of oxygen and carbon isotope variations in deep-sea benthic foraminifera. Yet, long intervals in existing records lack the temporal resolution and age control needed to thoroughly categorize climate states of the Cenozoic era and to study their dynamics. Here, we present a new, highly resolved, astronomically dated, continuous composite of benthic foraminifer isotope records developed in our laboratories. Four climate states-Hothouse, Warmhouse, Coolhouse, Icehouse-are identified on the basis of their distinctive response to astronomical forcing depending on greenhouse gas concentrations and polar ice sheet volume. Statistical analysis of the nonlinear behavior encoded in our record reveals the key role that polar ice volume plays in the predictability of Cenozoic climate dynamics.

Abstract. The early Eocene (56 to 48 million years ago) is inferred to have been the most recent time that Earth's atmospheric CO2 concentrations exceeded 1000 ppm. Global mean temperatures were also substantially warmer than those of the present day. As such, the study of early Eocene climate provides insight into how a super-warm Earth system behaves and offers an opportunity to evaluate climate models under conditions of high greenhouse gas forcing. The Deep Time Model Intercomparison Project (DeepMIP) is a systematic model–model and model–data intercomparison of three early Paleogene time slices: latest Paleocene, Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) and early Eocene climatic optimum (EECO). A previous article outlined the model experimental design for climate model simulations. In this article, we outline the methodologies to be used for the compilation and analysis of climate proxy data, primarily proxies for temperature and CO2. This paper establishes the protocols for a concerted and coordinated effort to compile the climate proxy records across a wide geographic range. The resulting climate “atlas” will be used to constrain and evaluate climate models for the three selected time intervals and provide insights into the mechanisms that control these warm climate states. We provide version 0.1 of this database, in anticipation that this will be expanded in subsequent publications.

During the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT; 1,200-800 kya), Earth's orbitally paced ice age cycles intensified, lengthened from ∼40,000 (∼40 ky) to ∼100 ky, and became distinctly asymmetrical. Testing hypotheses that implicate changing atmospheric CO2 levels as a driver of the MPT has proven difficult with available observations. Here, we use orbitally resolved, boron isotope CO2 data to show that the glacial to interglacial CO2 difference increased from ∼43 to ∼75 μatm across the MPT, mainly because of lower glacial CO2 levels. Through carbon cycle modeling, we attribute this decline primarily to the initiation of substantive dust-borne iron fertilization of the Southern Ocean during peak glacial stages. We also observe a twofold steepening of the relationship between sea level and CO2-related climate forcing that is suggestive of a change in the dynamics that govern ice sheet stability, such as that expected from the removal of subglacial regolith or interhemispheric ice sheet phase-locking. We argue that neither ice sheet dynamics nor CO2 change in isolation can explain the MPT. Instead, we infer that the MPT was initiated by a change in ice sheet dynamics and that longer and deeper post-MPT ice ages were sustained by carbon cycle feedbacks related to dust fertilization of the Southern Ocean as a consequence of larger ice sheets.

The Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was a global warming event that occurred about 56 million years ago, and is commonly thought to have been driven primarily by the destabilization of carbon from surface sedimentary reservoirs such as methane hydrates. However, it remains controversial whether such reservoirs were indeed the source of the carbon that drove the warming. Resolving this issue is key to understanding the proximal cause of the warming, and to quantifying the roles of triggers versus feedbacks. Here we present boron isotope data-a proxy for seawater pH-that show that the ocean surface pH was persistently low during the PETM. We combine our pH data with a paired carbon isotope record in an Earth system model in order to reconstruct the unfolding carbon-cycle dynamics during the event. We find strong evidence for a much larger (more than 10,000 petagrams)-and, on average, isotopically heavier-carbon source than considered previously. This leads us to identify volcanism associated with the North Atlantic Igneous Province, rather than carbon from a surface reservoir, as the main driver of the PETM. This finding implies that climate-driven amplification of organic carbon feedbacks probably played only a minor part in driving the event. However, we find that enhanced burial of organic matter seems to have been important in eventually sequestering the released carbon and accelerating the recovery of the Earth system.

Over the last decade, our understanding of climate sensitivity has improved considerably. The climate system shows variability on many timescales, is subject to non-stationary forcing and it is most likely out of equilibrium with the changes in the radiative forcing. Slow and fast feedbacks complicate the interpretation of geological records as feedback strengths vary over time. In the geological past, the forcing timescales were different than at present, suggesting that the response may have behaved differently. Do these insights constrain the climate sensitivity relevant for the present day? In this paper, we review the progress made in theoretical understanding of climate sensitivity and on the estimation of climate sensitivity from proxy records. Particular focus lies on the background state dependence of feedback processes and on the impact of tipping points on the climate system. We suggest how to further use palaeo data to advance our understanding of the currently ongoing climate change.

The 87 Sr / 86 Sr of marine carbonates provides a key constraint on the balance of continental weathering and hydrothermal Sr fluxes to the ocean, and the mid-Oligocene to mid-Miocene period features the most rapid rates of increase in the 87 Sr / 86 Sr of the Cenozoic. Because previous records of the 87 Sr / 86 Sr increase with time were based on biostratigraphically defined age models in diverse locations, it was difficult to unambiguously distinguish million-year-scale variations in the rate of 87 Sr / 86 Sr change from variations in sedimentation rate. In this study, we produce the first 87 Sr / 86 Sr results from an Oligocene to early Miocene site with a precise age-model-derived orbital tuning of high-resolution benthic δ18 O at Equatorial Pacific Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1218. Our new dataset resolves transient decreases in 87 Sr / 86 Sr, as well as periods of relative stasis. These changes can be directly compared with the high-resolution benthic δ18 O at the same site. We find that slowing of the rate of 87 Sr / 86 Sr increase coincides with the onset of Antarctic ice expansion at the beginning of the mid-Oligocene glacial interval, and a rapid steeping in the 87 Sr / 86 Sr increase coincides with the benthic δ18 O evidence for rapid ice retreat. This pattern may reflect either northward shifts in the Intertropical Convergence Zone precipitation to areas of nonradiogenic bedrock and/or lowered weathering fluxes from highly radiogenic glacial flours on Antarctica. We additionally generate the first 87 Sr / 86 Sr data from ODP Site 1168 on the Tasman Rise and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Site 1406 of the Newfoundland Margin during the Oligocene to early Miocene to improve the precision of age correlation of these Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere midlatitude sites and to better estimate the duration of early Miocene hiatus and condensed sedimentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 87Sr/86Sr of marine carbonates provides a key constraint on the balance of continental weathering and hydrothermal Sr fluxes to the ocean, and mid-Oligocene to mid-Miocene features the most rapid rates of increase in the 87Sr/86Sr of the Cenozoic. Because previous records of the 87Sr/86Sr increase with time were based on biostratigraphically defined age models in diverse locations, it was difficult to unambigiously distinguish m.y. scale variations in the rate of 87Sr/86Sr change from variations in sedimentation rate. In this study, we produce the first 87Sr/86Sr results from an Oligocene to early Miocene site with a precise age model derived orbital tuning of high resolution benthic δ 18O, at the Equatorial Pacific Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1218. Our new dataset resolves transient decreases in 87Sr/86Sr, as well as periods of relative stasis. These changes can be directly compared with the high resolution benthic δ18O in the same site. We find slowing of the rate of 87Sr/86Sr increase coincides with the onset of Antarctic ice expansion at the beginning of the Mid-Oligocene Glacial Interval, and a rapid steeping in the 87Sr/86Sr increase coincides with the benthic δ18O evidence for rapid ice retreat. This pattern may reflect either northward shifts in the Intertropical Convergence Zone precipitation to areas of nonradiogenic bedrock, and/or lowered weathering fluxes from highly radiogenic glacial flours on Antarctic. We additionally generate the first 87Sr/86Sr data from ODP Site 1168 and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Site 1406 during the Oligocene to early Miocene to improve the precision of age correlation of these Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere mid-latitude sites, and to better estimate the duration of early Miocene hiatus and condensed sedimentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]