Articles | Volume 12, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-543-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-543-2016
Research article
 | 
29 Feb 2016
Research article |  | 29 Feb 2016

The effect of low ancient greenhouse climate temperature gradients on the ocean's overturning circulation

Willem P. Sijp and Matthew H. England

Viewed

Total article views: 2,566 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
HTML PDF XML Total BibTeX EndNote
1,425 1,045 96 2,566 109 124
  • HTML: 1,425
  • PDF: 1,045
  • XML: 96
  • Total: 2,566
  • BibTeX: 109
  • EndNote: 124
Views and downloads (calculated since 09 Oct 2015)
Cumulative views and downloads (calculated since 09 Oct 2015)

Cited

Saved (preprint)

Latest update: 25 Apr 2024
Download
Short summary
The polar warmth of the greenhouse climates in the Earth's past represents a fundamentally different climate state to that of today, with a strongly reduced temperature difference between the Equator and the poles. It is commonly thought that this would lead to a more quiescent ocean, with much reduced ventilation of the abyss. Surprisingly, using a Cretaceous cimate model, we find that ocean overturning is not weaker under a reduced temperature gradient arising from amplified polar heat.