Nature & The Environment
Climate models questioned by Pliocene ocean temperatures
A huge pool of warm water that spanned the Tropics four million years ago suggests climate models might be too conservative in forecasting tropical changes. Dr Chris Brierley (UCL Geography), a co-author of the paper published in Nature, explains that this giant mass of water would have dramatically altered rainfall in the tropics. Its decay and the consequential drying of East Africa may have been a factor in Hominid evolution.
With green house gases accelerating climate change, Dr Brierley says we cannot rule out such a future for the world with the return of uniformly warm seas in the Tropics.
Further info: Read the paper here - https://www.nature.com/articles/nature12003
https://www.nature.com
Footage courtesy of ESA, NASA and archive.org
UCL Department of Geography
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