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标题：PLIOMAX: Pliocene maximum sea level project
本地全文：下载
作者：Maureen E. Raymo ; P. Hearty ; R. De Conto 等
期刊名称：PAGES News
印刷版ISSN：1811-1602
电子版ISSN：1811-1610
出版年度：2009
卷号：17
期号：2
出版社：PAGES International Project Office
摘要：The mid-Pliocene climate optimum (3.3-2.9 Ma) provides both a natural analog and a testing ground for General Circulation Models (GCMs) used for prediction of global warming. However, the value of such model experiments is governed by the quality of available paleoclimate data, and no more important metric of global climate exists than polar ice volume. Estimates of mid-Pliocene sea level range from +5m to >+40m (“+” represents the elevation of sea level relative to present) reflecting a huge range of uncertainty in the sensitivity of polar ice sheets, including the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS), to a modest global warming. It is the aim of the PLIOMAX project to reduce the level of uncertainty in Pliocene ice-volume estimates by undertaking a field geology program in Australia and engaging, in part through a web-based collaborative, a larger community of geoscientists in surveys of similar high-stand deposits around the world. Determination of the maximum mid-Pliocene sea level rise will allow climate modelers to better assess the level at which atmospheric CO2 concentrations might lead to significant melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), and EAIS.