Subtropical Arctic Ocean temperatures during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum
Open accessAbstract
The Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum, approximately 55 million years ago, was a brief period of widespread, extreme climatic warming, that was associated with massive atmospheric greenhouse gas input. Although aspects of the resulting environmental changes are well documented at low latitudes, no data were available to quantify simultaneous changes in the Arctic region. Here we identify the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum in a marine sedimentary sequence obtained during the Arctic Coring Expedition. We show that sea surface temperatures near the North Pole increased from 18 degrees C to over 23 degrees C during this event. Such warm values imply the absence of ice and thus exclude the influence of ice-albedo feedbacks on this Arctic warming. At the same time, sea level rose while anoxic and euxinic conditions developed in the ocean's bottom waters and photic zone, respectively. Increasing temperature and sea level match expectations based on palaeoclimate model simulations, but the absolute polar temperatures that we derive before, during and after the event are more than 10 degrees C warmer than those model-predicted. This suggests that higher-than-modern greenhouse gas concentrations must have operated in conjunction with other feedback mechanisms--perhaps polar stratospheric clouds or hurricane-induced ocean mixing--to amplify early Palaeogene polar temperatures.
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There may have been little or no cryosphere during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) 55.5 million years ago.
“For example, there may have been little or no cryosphere to speak of during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) 55.5 million years ago (Sluijs et al. 2006) and extant psychrophile clades may all have diverged after this event.”
From Environmental Adaptation from the Origin of Life to the Last Universal Common Ancestor (2018) · cites this paper as Sluijs et al. 2006
Extant psychrophile clades may all have diverged after the PETM.
“For example, there may have been little or no cryosphere to speak of during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) 55.5 million years ago (Sluijs et al. 2006) and extant psychrophile clades may all have diverged after this event.”
From Environmental Adaptation from the Origin of Life to the Last Universal Common Ancestor (2018) · cites this paper as Sluijs et al. 2006
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- Authors
- Scientists, T. E. 3., Sluijs, A., Schouten, S., Pagani, M., Woltering, M., Brinkhuis, H., Damsté, J. S. S., Dickens, G. R., Huber, M., Reichart, G.-J., Stein, R., Matthiessen, J., Lourens, L. J., Pedentchouk, N., Backman, J., & Moran, K.
- Affiliations
- Utrecht University (NL)
- Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE)
- Stockholm University (SE)
- University of Rhode Island (US)
- Corresponding author
- Sluijs, Appy
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2006-06
- Volume
- 441
- Issue
- 7093
- Pages
- 610-613
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W1983794578
- Cited by
- 729
- References
- 69
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 58 · 2018: 44 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 30 · 2014: 42 · 2013: 35 · 2012: 45
- FWCI
- 29.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (acceptedVersion)
- Journal of Media Literacy Education (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar-und Meeresforschung (Alfred-Wegener-Institut) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (submittedVersion)
- UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (submittedVersion)
- Padua Research Archive (University of Padova) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Purdue University
- Purdue Research Foundation
- Universiteit Utrecht
- Purdue Climate Change Research Center, Purdue University
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate variability and models
- Keywords
- Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Arctic Ocean, sea surface temperature, global warming, ice-albedo feedback, water cycle, ice-rafted debris, sea level rise, Cenozoic climate, polar stratospheric clouds
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Arctic Regions, Dinoflagellida, Fossils, Ice, Oceans and Seas, Seawater, Spores, Temperature, Time Factors, Tropical Climate, Greenhouse Effect, Geologic Sediments, History, Ancient
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