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dc.contributor.authorHuybers, Peter
dc.contributor.authorMolnar, Peter
dc.date.accessioned2009-08-07T14:37:01Z
dc.date.issued2007
dc.identifier.citationHuybers, 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.issn1814-9324en
dc.identifier.urihttp://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:3204914
dc.description.abstractWe 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.sponsorshipEarth and Planetary Sciencesen
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherCopernicus Publicationsen
dc.relation.isversionofhttp://www.clim-past.net/3/549/2007/cp-3-549-2007.htmlen
dc.relation.hasversionhttp://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~phuybers/Doc/tropics_glacial_onset.pdfen
dash.licenseLAA
dc.titleTropical Cooling and the Onset of North American Glaciationen
dc.relation.journalClimate of the Pasten
dash.depositing.authorHuybers, Peter
dc.identifier.doi10.5194/cp-3-549-2007
dash.contributor.affiliatedHuybers, Peter


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