April 4, 2019

the pliocene epoch: the last time earth had 400 ppm of atmospheric CO2

A few years ago, atmospheric CO2 passed the 400ppm mark.  The last time CO2 was so plentiful was in the Pliocene Epoch, around 2.6-5.3 million years ago.  Although the sun’s force was about the same, sea levels were 15 metres higher, the polar regions looked very different and Arctic summer temperatures were 10 degrees higher than the present day.

The Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London and the Royal Meteorological Society hosted a National Meeting on the afternoon of 3 April to discuss the climate of the Pliocene and what it can tell us about where our own is heading.
Keynote speakers were invited to the SMC in advance of that meeting to speak to journalists.

Speakers:

Prof Martin Siegert, Professor of Geoscience and co-director of the Grantham Institute, Imperial College London

Prof Tina van De Flierdt, Professor of Isotope Geochemistry, Imperial College London

Prof Dame Jane Francis, Director of British Antarctic Survey

Prof Rob DeConto, Professor of climatology, earth system modelling and paleoclimatology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst