C-FORCE investigates how Earth responds to rapid carbon release using the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a major global warming event approximately 56 million years ago. Geochemical records are combined with carbon-cycle modeling to reconstruct changes in ocean temperature, chemistry, and atmospheric CO2. The project aims to provide new constraints on the magnitude and rate of carbon release and warming during the PETM and to investigate the feedback mechanisms that shaped the response of the Earth system. By quantifying carbon-cycle feedbacks during a past interval of rapid warming, C-FORCE uses the geological record to better understand Earth-system sensitivity to carbon emissions and the processes that may influence the trajectory of ongoing and future climate change.

Additional information about the project is available through the C-FORCE project website.

PEP-US is an international scientific drilling project targeting expanded sedimentary records of the PETM and other Paleogene hyperthermals along the U.S. Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain. These exceptionally thick sedimentary sequences provide an opportunity to resolve rapid environmental and biotic changes that are difficult to capture in deep-sea records. New drill cores across the ancient continental shelf will be used to constrain the timing and causes of carbon injection and reconstruct associated changes in climate, ocean chemistry, hydrology, and marine and terrestrial ecosystems. By developing a transect of high-resolution records, PEP-US aims to establish how environmental and biological responses varied across these major carbon-cycle perturbations and provide new perspectives on the consequences of rapid global change.

Scientific motivation and drilling strategy are described in our 2024 Scientific Drilling article.