Seminar Series: How the central american seaway alters large scale ocean circulation

Posted on: October 31, 2018

Date: November 15, 2018

Location: Steinman Hall RM ST-424, City College of New York

Time: 12:00pm

Presenter: Dr. Lori Sentman

The study of past climates is helpful for understanding how the Earth system responds to external natural forcing on time scales longer than the current instrumental records. The Central American Seaway was an important ocean gateway connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans until its gradual shoaling and final closure near the end of the Pliocene (5.3-2.6 Ma), when paleoclimate proxy records indicate a major reorganization in large-scale ocean circulation and shifting spatial patterns in global climate and marine biogeochemistry. I will present model results of how the seaway alters ocean circulation, climate mean state and interannual variability, and ocean biogeochemistry from idealized experiments representing various seaway configurations using the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Earth System Model.

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