A gradual change is more likely to have caused the Mid-Pleistocene Transition than an abrupt event - Archive ouverte HAL
Article Dans Une Revue Communications Earth & Environment Année : 2023

A gradual change is more likely to have caused the Mid-Pleistocene Transition than an abrupt event

Résumé

The Mid-Pleistocene Transition (~1.2-0.8 million years) corresponds to a time interval when high-amplitude ~100,000 years glacial-interglacial cycles replaced the more subdued ~40,000 years glacial-interglacial cycles. Whether it was triggered by physical processes affecting the climate system at a specific time interval or more gradually over the course of the Pleistocene, is still an open question. Here we use an original approach based on conceptual modelling to identify the temporal structure of the Mid-Pleistocene Transition controlling factors. By comparing our new simulations of global ice volume changes with existing paleo-reconstructions over the past 2 million years, we find that it is more relevant to simulate the Mid-Pleistocene Transition with a gradual-rather-than-abrupt change in the climate system. Our results support the hypothesis that a progressive decrease in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations throughout the Pleistocene played a key role in triggering this major climatic transition.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
Legrain_et_al-2023-Communications_Earth_&_Environment.pdf (780.8 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origine Fichiers éditeurs autorisés sur une archive ouverte

Dates et versions

hal-04758865 , version 1 (29-10-2024)

Identifiants

Citer

Etienne Legrain, Frédéric Parrenin, Emilie Capron. A gradual change is more likely to have caused the Mid-Pleistocene Transition than an abrupt event. Communications Earth & Environment, 2023, 4 (1), pp.90. ⟨10.1038/s43247-023-00754-0⟩. ⟨hal-04758865⟩
23 Consultations
5 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

More