Moisture transport in warmer climates
Map of all authigenic carbonate and tooth oxygen isotope data from Quaternary Europe. We use spatial compilations, such as these, to understand changes in water transport during colder and warmer climates.
Global warming is likely to substantially alter the water cycle. While some changes in the water cycle are well-understood, other components remain difficult to predict because they involve a large number of small-scale processes operating across the globe to generate change. For example, how much rain is converted into runoff depends upon how much water plants will use in the future, how quickly storms produce precipitation, and how temperature and relative humidity change over land. We use a combination of data collection and modeling to understand how the terrestrial water cycle operated during past greenhouse episodes.
Relevant Publications:
Philipp de Vrese, Tobias Stacke, Jeremy K. Caves Rugenstein, Jason Goodman, & Victor Brovkin. Snowfall-albedo feedbacks could have led to deglaciation of snowball Earth starting from mid-latitudes. Communications Earth & Environment. v. 2 (91). 10.1038/s43247-021-00160-4.
Joep van Dijk. Alvaro Fernandez, Stefano M. Bernasconi, Jeremy K. Caves Rugenstein, Simon R. Passey, & Tim White. Spatial pattern of super-greenhouse warmth controlled by elevated specific humidity. Nature Geoscience. v. 13: 739-744. 10.1038/s41561-020-00648-2.
Hari Mix, Jeremy K. Caves Rugenstein, Sean P. Reilly, Andrea J. Ritch, Matthew J. Winnick, Tyler Kukla, & C. Page Chamberlain. Atmospheric flow deflection in the late Cenozoic Sierra Nevada. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. v. 518: 76-85. 10.1016/j.epsl.2019.04.050
Daniel E. Ibarra, Jeremy K. Caves Rugenstein, Aviv Bachan, Andres Baresch, Kimberly V. Lau, Dana L. Thomas, Jung-Eun Lee, C. Kevin Boyce, & C. Page Chamberlain. Modeling the evolution of land plants and the silicate weathering feedback. American Journal of Science v. 319 (1): 1-43. 10.2475/01.2019.01. pdf.
Jeremy K. Caves Rugenstein and C. Page Chamberlain. The evolution of hydroclimate in Asia over the Cenozoic: A stable-isotope perspective. Earth-Science Reviews, 10.1016/j.earscirev.2018.09.003. pdf.
Daniel E. Ibarra, Jessica L. Oster, Matthew J. Winnick, Jeremy K. Caves Rugenstein, Michael Byrne, and C. Page Chamberlain. Warm and cold wet states in the western United States during the Pliocene – Pleistocene. Geology, v. 46. 10.1130/G39962.1. pdf.
Jeremy K. Caves, Danielle Y. Moragne, Daniel E. Ibarra, Bolat U. Bayshashov, Yuan Gao, Matthew M. Jones, Aizhan Zhamangara, Anastasia V. Arzhannikova, Sergey G. Arzhannikov, C. Page Chamberlain. The Neogene de-greening of Central Asia. Geology; vol. 44 (11): 887-890. 10.1130/G38267.1. pdf. R code used in analysis.
Jeremy K. Caves, Matthew J. Winnick, Stephan A. Graham, Derek J. Sjostrom, Andreas Mulch, and C. Page Chamberlain. Role of the westerlies in Central Asia climate over the Cenozoic. Earth and Planetary Science Letters; vol. 428: 33-43. pdf 10.1016/j.epsl.2015.07.023. pdf.
Yuan Gao, Daniel E. Ibarra, Chengshan Wang, Jeremy K. Caves, C. Page Chamberlain, Stephan A. Graham, H. Wu. Mid-latitude terrestrial climate of East Asia linked to global climate in the Late Cretaceous. Geology; vol. 43 (4): 287-290. 10.1130/G36427.1. pdf.
Matthew J. Winnick, C. Page Chamberlain, Jeremy K. Caves, and Jeffrey M. Welker. Quantifying the isotopic 'continental effect'. Earth and Planetary Science Letters; vol. 406: 123-133. 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.09.005. pdf. R code used in analysis.
See also News and Views in Nature by K. Freeman: 10.1038/516041a