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Originally published in Science Express on 23 June 2005
Science 29 July 2005:
Vol. 309. no. 5735, pp. 758 - 761
DOI: 10.1126/science.1112596
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Reports

Permanent El Niño-Like Conditions During the Pliocene Warm Period

Michael W. Wara, Ana Christina Ravelo,* Margaret L. Delaney

During the warm early Pliocene (~4.5 to 3.0 million years ago), the most recent interval with a climate warmer than today, the eastern Pacific thermocline was deep and the average west-to-east sea surface temperature difference across the equatorial Pacific was only 1.5 ± 0.9°C, much like it is during a modern El Niño event. Thus, the modern strong sea surface temperature gradient across the equatorial Pacific is not a stable and permanent feature. Sustained El Niño-like conditions, including relatively weak zonal atmospheric (Walker) circulation, could be a consequence of, and play an important role in determining, global warmth.

Ocean Sciences Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.

Published online 23 June 2005

Include this information when citing this paper.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: acr{at}es.ucsc.edu

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