Home
| | Home | | My BADC | | Data | | Search | | Community | | Help | |
 | Get Data | Access Rules | Submit Data | Dataset Index |  |
Introduction
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) occurred 55 million years ago and is an important past climate event, which has direct relevance for the understanding of future climate change. During the PETM there was a rapid rise in global temperatures and an intensification of the hydrological cycle.
Evidence from carbon isotopes in marine fossils suggests methane hydrates (an ice-like substance found in ocean sediments and Arctic permafrost that contains a large amount of methane within its crystalline structure) may have melted, causing 'super' global warming.
The PETM will be studied with particular emphasis on trying to understand the role of methane hydrates and the impacts of surface ocean acidification on calcifiers such as foraminifera, coccolithophores, and corals. An interdisciplinary model-data approach will be followed, using both fully coupled GCMs and intermediate complexity Earth system models to explicitly evaluate the foremost hypothesis for the driver of hyperthermal events such as the PETM - that a change in ocean circulation and/or warming drove a large-scale destabilization of methane hydrate deposits, and thus assess the relevance of the PETM to future global change.
Availability of data and file format
The data filenames should follow the BADC File Name convention and the data file format should be NetCDF or NASA-Ames.
Access to data and information
Please refer to the QUEST Conditions of Access page for details on access restrictions.
Citation
Who to contact
Each QUEST project will have a designated "data co-ordinator" to ensure good communication with the QUEST core team/BADC regarding data issues, and to ensure that each project meets its data provision obligations. The data co-ordinator for the QUEST Dynamics of the PETM project is to be determined.
 | Home | Contact | Disclaimer | Last Modified:
|  |
Back to QUEST Home page