Earth's climate today includes the presence of large polar ice caps, but there have been periods of Earth history with no such glacial ice. This collaborative research seeks to understand the factors that determine Earth's long-term climate state by focusing on a transition from a non-glacial to a glacial climate that occurred 450 million years ago. The research will use updated reconstructions of the past position of the continents in combination with climate and carbon cycle numerical modeling to test the hypothesis that uplift of volcanic rocks within an ancient tropical mountain belt was a major contributing factor in this climatic transition.
UC PI:
Nicholas Swanson-Hyssell
Department of Earth & Planetary Science, UC Berkeley
French PI:
Yves Goddéris
Géosciences Environnement Toulouse - Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, CNRS - Université Toulouse
