Description: We provide a climatic data set of the history of annual mean surface air temperature (SAT) over the last 1,000,000 years. The SAT (i.e. the temperature at 2 meter height above the ground) has been simulated by means of the Community Earth System Models (COSMOS, consisting of ECHAM5, JSBACH, MPIOM). These have been exposed to the solution of elements of the Earth's orbit around the sun (eccentricity, obliquity, longitude of the perihelion) by Laskar et al. (2004) for the last 1,000,000 years. Towards practical feasibility of the climate simulation, the orbital forcing has been accelerated by a factor of 100 based on the method described by Lorenz and Lohmann (2004). A detailed description of the COSMOS' application in the framework of paleoclimate can be found, for example, in the publication by Stepanek and Lohmann (2012).

Description: We present basal melt rates for the ice shelves in equilibrium simulations of the Antarctic ice sheet (AIS), using the 3D thermodynamical Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM) version 1.1 with PICO as ocean component. The applied climate forcing consists of yearly mean present-day temperature and precipitation fields from RACMO2.3 (RACMO2 ANT27), and 400-800 m depth average ocean temperature and salinity, obtained from simulations using the atmosphere-ocean general circulation model COSMOS (ocean model MPIOM). COSMOS was run using pre-industrial settings (PID; 278 ppm CO2), settings from 40 kyr ago (40ka; 195 ppm CO2), and Last Glacial Maximum settings (LGM; 185 ppm CO2). All simulations are started with present-day bedrock conditions, and a present-day AIS size (Bedmap2). The steady state simulations are conducted by applying the same climate forcing over 200 kyr, after a thermodynamical spin-up (no mass changes) of 200,100 yr.

Description: We present climate model output for various atmosphere and ocean quantities that illustrate the impact of three different types of forcing on global climate characteristics during mid-Pliocene (~3.3 - 3.0 Million years before present, Ma BP) and early to Mid-Miocene (~23-15 Ma BP): -geography, including setups for modern, mid-Pliocene, and early to Mid-Miocene -carbon dioxide, ranging from Pre-Industrial (280 parts per million by volume, ppmv) to 840 ppmv -strength of ocean mixing via enhancement of respective mixing parameters, ranging from the unperturbed state to mild (five times), intermediate (ten times), and strong (twenty-fife times) enhancement of vertical mixing. The data provided with this data publication has been employed by the authors in the manuscript "Effects of CO2 and ocean mixing on Miocene and Pliocene temperature gradients" (revised for publication in the journal Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, special issue "The Miocene: The Future of the Past") for a comparative study of the effects of carbon dioxide and ocean mixing on various climate characteristics. Here we provide all climate output that has been employed towards creating analyses presented in that publication. Data is provided at the resolution employed for generating analyses for the manuscript. Atmosphere model output provided at native model resolution (T31, ~3.75°x3.75° horizontally). Ocean output provided at a regular grid (the native grid of the ocean model is curvilinear with a formal resolution of 3.0°x1.8° horizontally). Sea ice cover provided at a resolution of 1.0°x1.0°. Zonal mean of ocean potential temperature over all model levels provided at a latitudinal resolution of 1°, vertically discretized on native ocean model levels (40 pressure levels of non-linear spacing). Depth of the ocean mixed layer, sea surface temperature, and total heat flux across the atmosphere ocean interface given at resolutions of 0.5°x0.5° resolution. Data at higher resolutions is provided towards retaining more details of the coastlines and of ocean gateway regions.

Description: The Pliocene Epoch (~2.6–5.3 million years ago, Ma) was characterized by a warmer than present climate with smaller Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, and therefore offers an example of a climate system in long-term equilibrium with current or predicted near-future carbon dioxide concentrations. The end of the Pliocene (~2.6 Ma) is marked by further ice-sheet expansion and intensification of glacial (cold) stages, referred to as the "intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation" (iNHG). Here we present the data used to assess the spatial and temporal variability of ocean temperatures and ice-volume indicators through the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene (from 3.3 to 2.4 Ma) to determine the character of this climate transition. The data come from the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Southern Ocean, as well as some marginal seas. Here we present the synthesized alkenone sea-surface temperature, Mg/Ca sea-surface temperature, planktonic foraminifera d18O and benthic foraminifera d18O data which were used in our synthesis. Although the original data sets are largely published, here we present the alkenone SST records calculated using the BAYSPLINE calibration where these were not part of the original publication; the Mg/Ca-SST records where we revised the absolute SSTs; any data sets where we revised the age model.