Description: The Middle Miocene Climate Transition was characterized by major Antarctic ice-sheet expansion and global cooling during the interval ~15-13 Ma. Here we present two sets of boundary conditions for global general circulation models characterizing the periods before (Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum; MMCO) and after (Middle Miocene Glaciation; MMG) the transition. These boundary conditions include Middle Miocene global topography, bathymetry and vegetation. Additionally, Antarctic ice volume and geometry, sea-level and atmospheric CO2 concentration estimates for the MMCO and the MMG are reviewed. The MMCO and MMG boundary conditions have been applied to the Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3) to provide evidence of their suitability for global climate modeling. The boundary-condition files are available for use as input in a wide variety of global climate models and constitute a valuable tool for modeling studies with a focus on the Middle Miocene.

Description: We present a dynamically consistent gridded data set of the global, monthly-mean oxygen isotope ratio of seawater (δ¹⁸Osw). The data set is created from an optimized simulation of an ocean general circulation model constrained by global monthly δ¹⁸Osw data collected from 1950 until 2011 and climatological salinity and temperature data collected from 1951 to 1980. The optimization was obtained using the adjoint method for variational data assimilation, which yields a simulation that is consistent with the observational data and the physical laws incorporated in the model. Our data set performs equally well as a previous data set in terms of model-data misfit and brings an improvement in terms of physical consistency and a seasonal cycle. The data assimilation method shows high potential for interpolating sparse data sets in a physical meaningful way. Comparatively big errors, however, are found in our data set in the surface levels in the Arctic Ocean mainly because there is no influence of isotopically highly depleted precipitation on the ocean in areas with sea-ice, and because of the low model resolution. The data set is the 100-year monthly-mean of the optimized 400-year equilibrium model simulation. It includes simulated δ¹⁸Osw, potential temperature, and salinity on the model grid. The model uses a cubed-sphere grid with a horizontal resolution of 2.8° and 15 vertical levels. We additionally provide the data interpolated onto a 1° lat-lon grid. Values at the edge of the ocean, which could not be interpolated, are set to the respective values in the raw data set on the model grid.

Description: Species of planktonic foraminifera exhibit specific seasonal production patterns and different preferred vertical habitats. The seasonality and vertical habitats are not constant throughout the range of the species and changes therein must be considered when interpreting paleoceanographic reconstructions based on fossil foraminifera. Accounting for the effect of vertical and seasonal habitat tracking on foraminifera proxies at times of climate change is difficult because it requires independent fossil evidence. An alternative that could reduce the bias in paleoceanographic reconstructions is to predict species-specific habitat shifts under climate change using an ecosystem modeling approach. To this end, we present a new version of a planktonic foraminifera model, PLAFOM2.0, embedded into the ocean component of the Community Earth System Model, version 1.2.2. This model predicts monthly global concentrations of the planktonic foraminiferal species: Neogloboquadrina pachyderma, N. incompta, Globigerina bulloides, Globigerinoides ruber (white), and Trilobatus sacculifer throughout the world ocean, resolved in 24 vertical layers to 250m depth. The resolution along the vertical dimension has been implemented by applying the previously used spatial parameterization of biomass as a function of temperature, light, nutrition, and competition on depth-resolved parameter fields. This approach alone results in the emergence of species-specific vertical habitats, which are spatially and temporally variable. Although an explicit parameterization of the vertical dimension has not been carried out, the seasonal and vertical distribution patterns predicted by the model are in good agreement with sediment trap data and plankton tow observations. In the simulation, the colder-water species N. pachyderma, N. incompta, and G. bulloides show a pronounced seasonal cycle in their depth habitat in the polar and subpolar regions, which appears to be controlled by food availability. During the warm season, these species preferably occur in the subsurface, while towards the cold season they ascend through the water column and are found closer to the sea surface. The warm-water species G. ruber (white) and T. sacculifer exhibit a less variable shallow depth habitat with highest biomass concentrations within the top 40m of the water column. Nevertheless, even these species show vertical habitat variability and their seasonal occurrence outside the tropics is limited to the warm surface layer that develops at the end of the warm season. The emergence in PLAFOM2.0 of species-specific vertical habitats that are consistent with observations indicates that the population dynamics of planktonic foraminifera species may be driven by the same factors in time, space, and with depth, in which case the model can provide a reliable and robust tool to aid the interpretation of proxy records.

Description: Abrupt cold events have been detected in numerous North Atlantic climate records from the Holocene. Several mechanisms have been discussed as possible triggers for these climate shifts persisting decades to centuries. Here, we describe two abrupt cold events that occurred during an orbitally forced transient Holocene simulation using the Community Climate System Model version 3. Both events occurred during the late Holocene (4305-4267 BP and 3046-3018 BP, respectively). They were characterized by substantial surface cooling (-2.3 and -1.8 °C, respectively) and freshening (-0.6 and -0.5 PSU, respectively) as well as severe sea ice advance east of Newfoundland and south of Greenland, reaching as far as the Iceland Basin in the northeastern Atlantic at the climaxes of the cold events. Convection and deep-water formation in the northwestern Atlantic collapsed during the events, while the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation was not substantially affected (weakening by only about 10% and 5%, respectively). The events were triggered by prolonged phases of a positive North Atlantic Oscillation caused substantial changes in the sub-polar ocean circulation and associated freshwater transports, resulting in a weakening of the sub-polar gyre. Our results suggest a possible mechanism by which abrupt cold events in the North Atlantic region may be triggered by internal climate variability without the need of an external (e.g. solar or volcanic) forcing.