An old warming event could have lasted more than we thought

This is an authorized translation of a EOS article. This is an authorized Spanish crociption of one Artesstrane Delaware EOS.

Fountain: Geophysical Research Letters

56 million years ago, during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM, for Swaps in English), global temperatures at more than 5 ° C for 100,000 years or more. In Ise time, between 3,000 and 20,000 petograms of carbon were released to the atmosphere, which caused a tomb alteration of ecosystems and marine life globally, and gave rise to a prolonged greenhouse state.

It is expected that global anthropogenic heating also alters the terrestrial carbon cycle for thousands of years. Between 1850 and 2019, approximately 2,390 petograms of carbon dioxide (CO₂) were released to the atmosphere and with the continuous use of formation fuels, it is possible that in the next centuries 5,000 petograms are released. However of sin, estimates on the duration of this alteration varies considerable, from about 3,000 to 165,000 years.

Understanding how long the carbon cycle was affected during the PETM could offer key clues about the severity and duration of the alterations derived from anthropogenic climatic change. Previous investigations, based on carbon isotope records, estimated that the PETM hard between 120,000 and 230,000 years. Now, Piedrahita et al. They suggest that this warm -heating steno lasted for almost 269,000 years.

The evidence of the PETM is found in the geological record as a marked decrease in the proportions of isotopes establishes carbon. This descent is divided into three phases, each representative different stages of alteration and recovery of the carbon cycle. The previous estimates on the end of this diminution have varied expanding due to the noise present in the data on which they are based.

In this new research, scientists analyzed six sedimentary records with well -established ages in previous works: a record of a registration of the Bighorn basin in Wyoming and five marine sedimentary records of various locations. Instead of based only on Sen data processing, as in previous works, they applied a probabilistic focus that considers the analytical and chronological uncertainties, the allowing the mayor to be required to the mayor precisely the interval of the PETM interval.

In particular, the study suggests that the recovery period took much more than the estimates indicated above – more than 145,000 years. According to the authors, this extended recovery time during the PETM indicates that future climate change scenarios could affect the carbobaro cycle for a longer time than the curse of the models. (Geophysical Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024gl1131172025)

—Rebecca Owen (@beccapox.bsky.social), Science writer

This translation by Saúl A. Villafañe-Barajas (@Villafanne) was possible thanks to an association with PLANETEANDIO and Geolatins. This translation was thanks to possible association PLANETEANDIO AND Geolatins.

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