Science · 2001 · 337 citations · 32 references
Natural SciencesBotanyEarth SciencesClimatologyPaleobotanyPaleoclimatologyCarbon CycleCarbon FixationClimate ChangePaleoclimate ReconstructionPaleoclimate VariabilityPaleoclimatic ReconstructionCarbon DioxideCarbon Dioxide ReconstructionsCarboniferous Plant FossilsFossil CuticlesHolocene PaleoclimatologyPalaeoclimate ReconstructionPaleoclimate EvolutionPartial Pressure Gradients
Understanding the link between the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO(2)) and Earth's temperature underpins much of paleoclimatology and our predictions of future global warming. Here, we use the inverse relationship between leaf stomatal indices and the partial pressure of CO(2) in modern Ginkgo biloba and Metasequoia glyptostroboides to develop a CO(2) reconstruction based on fossil Ginkgo and Metasequoia cuticles for the middle Paleocene to early Eocene and middle Miocene. Our reconstruction indicates that CO(2) remained between 300 and 450 parts per million by volume for these intervals with the exception of a single high estimate near the Paleocene/Eocene boundary. These results suggest that factors in addition to CO(2) are required to explain these past intervals of global warmth.
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Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 years from the Vostok ice core, Antarctica
Jean‐Robert Petit, J. Jouzel, Dominique Raynaud et al. · Nature · 1999 · 6.7K citations · Full text