DOC-SWEET: Deep Ocean Circulation during Super Warm Early Eocene Temperatures and climate: understanding the response of the Earth to high CO2 throug

The SWEET project focusses on the surface characteristics of the Eocene climate, with particular emphasis on sea surface temperature, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, and modelling the climate of the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO). Due to the complexity and resolution of the model used, UKESM, very long simulations are prohibited and the deep ocean is largely ignored.

In this Associated Studentship we explore deep ocean circulation during the EECO using a combined model-data approach. The student will use the neodymium isotope proxy to reconstruct deep ocean fingerprints across a range of global locations for the EECO (52-50 Ma). The reconstructed first order picture of deep ocean circulation will subsequently be subjected to sensitivity studies using the HadCM3L model. This model has a lower resolution than the more complex UKESM, but still a higher resolution than previous studies.

The student will be fully integrated into SWEET, and will benefit from international collaborations across the DeepMIP community. Comparison with the UKESM modelling results from the main project will also bring added value to SWEET, in particular an assessment of the relative equilibrium of the ocean state in the UKESM model after 1000 years.