Project Info

Paleogene climate zones

Piret Plink-Bjorklund | pplink@mines.edu

Paleogene was a time of extreme global warming, and the paleo-climate data suggest that the global climate zones were very different from those of today. With this project we aim to map globally the data distribution of Paleogene climate types and produce a global climate zone map for extreme global warming conditions. At the current greenhouse gas emission rates, we may reach Paleogene -like conditions in just a few hundreds of years.

More Information

McInerney, F.A., Wing, S.L., 2011. The Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum: a perturbation
of carbon cycle, climate, and biosphere with implications for the future. Annual Review
of Earth and Planetary Sciences 39, 489–516.

Grand Engineering Challenge: Not applicable

Student Preparation

Qualifications

The project will involve literature review.

Time Commitment

Flexible hours/month

Skills/Techniques Gained

Understanding climate conditions during extreme warming. Skills to extract information from scientific papers and organize that information.

Mentoring Plan

The student will work closely with me.