New understanding to past global warming events: Hyperthermal events may be triggered by warming
Monday, April 2, 2012 - 15:30
in Earth & Climate
A series of global warming events called hyperthermals that occurred more than 50 million years ago had a similar origin to a much larger hyperthermal of the period, the Pelaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), new research has found. The findings represent a breakthrough in understanding the major "burp" of carbon, equivalent to burning the entire reservoir of fossil fuels on Earth, that occurred during the PETM. The work confirms that the PETM was not a unique event - the result, perhaps, of a meteorite strike - but a natural part of Earth's carbon cycle.