Continental climate
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Continental Climate: Insights from Recent Research
Sensitive Dependence of Global Climate to Continental Geometry
The Earth's climate has been significantly influenced by the distribution and composition of continents over its multibillion-year history. The global weathering rate, which plays a crucial role in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide through marine sequestration, is highly sensitive to the size and shape of continents. This sensitivity is not well explained by the amount of land in the tropics but rather by the detailed features of continental geometry. Complex runoff patterns, influenced by these geometrical features, contribute to the long-term variability and irregularity of Earth's climate1 6.
Cenozoic Continental Climate Evolution in Central Europe
The continental climate of Central Europe over the last 45 million years shows a pronounced cooling trend, especially in winter temperatures, while summer temperatures remained relatively stable. This cooling trend is associated with an increase in seasonality. Interestingly, mean annual precipitation remained stable, highlighting the importance of latent heat transport. These findings suggest that changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations were not the primary driver of Cenozoic cooling in this region2.
Continental Climate Reconstruction from Pollen Records
A 140,000-year reconstruction of continental climate using European pollen records reveals dramatic and cyclic changes. These reconstructions improve the correlation between marine and land records, emphasizing the role of post-temperate forested episodes in the formation of ice sheets. This highlights the intricate relationship between terrestrial and marine climate records over long timescales3.
Climatic Regionalisation of Continental Chile
The updated Köppen–Geiger climate classification for continental Chile identifies three primary climate types: arid (B), temperate (C), and polar (E), with the latter due to the Andes' elevation. The predominant climates are high tundra (ET) and Mediterranean (Cs). The study underscores the importance of using climate surfaces to develop new classifications and indices, revealing that northern Chile's arid climate is due to the Atacama Desert, while southern Chile experiences temperate climates ranging from Mediterranean to marine west coast4.
Continental-Scale Temperature Variability Over the Past Two Millennia
Temperature reconstructions for seven continental-scale regions over the past two millennia reveal a long-term cooling trend that ended in the late nineteenth century. This cooling trend was not globally synchronous, with distinct regional patterns and more similarity within each hemisphere. The transition to colder conditions occurred earlier in the Arctic, Europe, and Asia compared to North America and the Southern Hemisphere. Recent warming has reversed this long-term cooling trend, with the period from 1971 to 2000 being warmer than any other time in nearly 1,400 years5.
Eocene Continental Climates and Latitudinal Temperature Gradients
During the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic, global climates were warmer than present, with mild winter temperatures even at high latitudes and mid-latitude continental interiors. Paleontological data indicate that cold month means were generally above 2°C, even where the mean annual temperature was significantly higher than today. This contrasts with computer simulations that produce winter temperatures closer to modern levels, suggesting a need for further refinement in climate models10.
Conclusion
The research highlights the complex interplay between continental geometry, atmospheric CO2 levels, and regional climatic factors in shaping Earth's climate over various timescales. From the sensitivity of global weathering rates to the detailed features of continental geometry to the pronounced cooling trends in Central Europe and the intricate climate patterns in Chile, these studies provide valuable insights into the factors driving continental climate variability. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for predicting future climate changes and their potential impacts on different regions.
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Most relevant research papers on this topic
Sensitive Dependence of Global Climate to Continental Geometry
The global weathering rate is sensitive to the size and shape of continents, but not well explained by the amount of land in the tropics, contributing to the long-term variability and irregularity of Earth's climate.
Cenozoic continental climatic evolution of Central Europe.
Cenozoic cooling in Central Europe is linked to increased seasonality, but atmospheric CO2 concentrations were not the main driving force of this cooling.
Highly CitedA 140,000-year continental climate reconstruction from two European pollen records
Post-temperate forested episodes played a key role in the beginning of ice-sheet formation over the past 140,000 years, improving the correlation between marine and land records.
Highly CitedClimatic regionalisation of continental Chile
The updated Köppen-Geiger climate classification for continental Chile reveals arid (B), temperate (C), and polar (E) climates, with high tundra (ET) and mediterranean (Cs) predominant climates.
Highly CitedContinental-scale temperature variability during the past two millennia
A long-term cooling trend ended in the 19th century, with recent warming reversing this trend, and temperatures were higher than any time in nearly 1,400 years during 1971-2000.
Highly CitedLong continental records of climate — An introduction
The last 2.5 million years have seen complex climate changes in middle latitudes, with over 40 interglacial/glacial shifts and 10-12 stronger or longer glacials, similar to those documented in instrumental weather records.
North American Climate in CMIP5 experiments. Part I: Evaluation of historical simulations of continental and regional climatology
The multimodel ensemble mean represents observed spatial patterns of basic climate and hydrological variables, with large variability across models and regions in the magnitude and sign of errors.
Highly CitedThe Climates of the Continents
The third edition of W. G. Kendrew's book remains the most useful and convenient collection of climatic data available in the English language, with minor emendations in the text and tables.
Highly CitedEocene continental climates and latitudinal temperature gradients
Global climate during the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic is thought to have been warmer than at present, but there is debate about winter temperatures. Paleontological data indicate mild temperatures even at high latitudes and in mid-latitude continental interiors, whereas computer simulations of continental paleoclimates produce winter temperatures closer to modern levels. Foliar physiognomy and floristic composition of 23 Eocene floras from the interior of North America and Australia indicate cold month means generally >2 °C, even where the mean annual temperature (MAT) was
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