dc.contributor.author | Huybers, Peter | |
dc.contributor.author | Molnar, Peter | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2009-08-07T14:37:01Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2007 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Huybers, Peter and Peter Molnar. 2007. Tropical cooling and the onset of North American glaciation. Climate of the Past 3, no. 3: 549-557. | en |
dc.identifier.issn | 1814-9324 | en |
dc.identifier.uri | http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:3204914 | |
dc.description.abstract | We offer a test of the idea that gradual cooling in the eastern tropical Pacific led to cooling of North America and the initiation of glaciation ~3 Myr ago. Using modern climate data we estimate how warming of the eastern tropical Pacific affects North American temperature and ice-ablation. Assuming that the modern relationship holds over the past millions of years, a ~4°C warmer eastern tropical Pacific between 3–5 Ma would increase ablation in northern North America by approximately two meters per year. By comparison, a similar estimate of the ablation response to variations in Earth's obliquity gives less than half the magnitude of the tropically-induced change. Considering that variations in Earth's obliquity appear sufficient to initiate glaciations between ~1–3 Ma, we infer that the warmer eastern equatorial Pacific prior to 3 Ma suffices to preclude glaciation. | en |
dc.description.sponsorship | Earth and Planetary Sciences | en |
dc.language.iso | en_US | en |
dc.publisher | Copernicus Publications | en |
dc.relation.isversionof | http://www.clim-past.net/3/549/2007/cp-3-549-2007.html | en |
dc.relation.hasversion | http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~phuybers/Doc/tropics_glacial_onset.pdf | en |
dash.license | LAA | |
dc.title | Tropical Cooling and the Onset of North American Glaciation | en |
dc.relation.journal | Climate of the Past | en |
dash.depositing.author | Huybers, Peter | |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.5194/cp-3-549-2007 | |
dash.contributor.affiliated | Huybers, Peter | |