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Malte Heinemann is the 50th graduate of the IMPRS
The climate 50 million years ago was warm and sensitive
Malte Heinemann is the 50th graduate of the International Max Planck Research School on Earth System Modelling (IMPRS-ESM) at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M) in Hamburg. In his doctoral thesis entitled “Warm and sensitive Paleocene-Eocene climate“ he investigates the variability of the climate 55 to 50 million years ago in order to draw possible conclusions about today’s climate change. For this purpose, Malte Heinemann uses the coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea ice model ECHAM5/MPI-OM that has been developed at the MPI-M.
The late Paleocene to early Eocene (PE) about 55 to 50 million years ago was the warmest period during the Cenozoic Era (65 million years ago to present). The boundary between the Paleocene and the Eocene (PE) (54.8 million years ago) was marked by an extraordinary, short-lived global warming event. Paleo-reconstructions suggest that, compared to today, the temperatures were differently distributed: The high-latitudes during the PE were very warm – it is assumed that alligators lived on Ellesmere Island (Northern Canada, close to Western Greenland) – while tropical and subtropical temperatures were only moderately warmer than at present.
According to hypotheses, the Thermal Maximum in the PE was caused by a relatively sudden input of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. This assumption might allow conclusions regarding the present situation as humankind is strongly increasing the atmosphere’s content of carbon dioxide (CO2). In his doctoral thesis Malte Heinemann uses the model ECHAM5/MPI-OM to investigate the warm PE climate, the warming during the Maximum as well as the role of the ocean and the ocean circulation.
Malte Heinemann is the first who – using a coupled model which takes the differently distributed continents 55 million years ago into account - simulated a temperature distribution that is consistent with Paleo-reconstructions. His simulation results show a sea-ice-free Arctic and reasonably match lower-latitude sea surface temperature reconstructions. The hypothesis that an ocean circulation switch triggered the PE Thermal Maximum could not be confirmed. However, the research results indicate that the PE climate was very sensitive to a variation of the CO2 concentration which implies that a relatively small input of CO2 could have caused the Thermal Maximum during the PE.
Malte Heinemann (born in 1978) studied physics at the Universities of Oldenburg and Otago / New Zealand. In May 2005 he started his doctoral thesis at the MPI-M as a Gary Comer Fellow. Prof. Dr. Jochem Marotzke (Director of the department „The Ocean in the Earth System as well as Managing Direction of the MPI-M), Dr. Johann Jungclaus (MPI-M) and Prof. Dr. Detlef Stammer (Institute of Oceanography at the University of Hamburg) supervised the dissertation project. The successful defense of the doctoral thesis took place on 6 July 2009.
More information:
www.mpimet.mpg.de/en/institut/mitarbeiter/heinemannmalte/index.html
www.mpg.de/instituteProjekteEinrichtungen/schoolauswahl/earthSystem/index.html
www.cfellows.org/login.aspx
Contact:
Malte Heinemann
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
Phone: +49 40 41173 158
E-Mail
7 July 2009
