Reduced El Niño variability in the mid-Pliocene according to the PlioMIP2 ensemble

The mid-Pliocene warm period (3.264-3.025 Ma) is the most recent geological period during which atmospheric CO2 levels were similar to recent historical values (similar to 400 ppm). Several proxy reconstructions for the midPliocene show highly reduced zonal sea surface temperature (SST) gradients in the tropical Pacific Ocean, indicating an El Nino-like mean state. However, past modelling studies do not show these highly reduced gradients. Efforts to understand mid-Pliocene climate dynamics have led to the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP). Results from the first phase (PlioMIP1) showed clear El Nino variability (albeit significantly reduced) and did not show the greatly reduced time-mean zonal SST gradient suggested by some of the proxies.

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Related Dataset #1 : Community sourced mid-Piacenzian sea surface temperature (SST) data

Related Software #1 : arthuroldeman/pliomip2-enso: v1.0
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Author Oldeman, A. M.
Baatsen, M. L. J.
von der Heydt, A. S.
Dijkstra, H. A.
Tindall, J. C.
Abe-Ouchi, A.
Booth, A. R.
Brady, Esther C.
Chan, W.
Chandan, D.
Chandler, M. A.
Contoux, C.
Feng, R.
Guo, C.
Haywood, A. M.
Hunter, S. J.
Kamae, Y.
Li, Q.
Li, X.
Lohmann, G.
Lunt, D. J.
Nisancioglu, K. H.
Otto-Bliesner, Bette
Peltier, W. R.
Pontes, G. M.
Ramstein, G.
Sohl, L. E.
Stepanek, C.
Tan, N.
Zhang, Q.
Zhang, Z.
Wainer, I.
Williams, C. J. R.
Publisher UCAR/NCAR - Library
Publication Date 2021-12-01T00:00:00
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Not Assigned
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Topic Category geoscientificInformation
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Metadata Date 2025-07-11T16:09:18.625564
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.opensky::articles:24901
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation Oldeman, A. M., Baatsen, M. L. J., von der Heydt, A. S., Dijkstra, H. A., Tindall, J. C., Abe-Ouchi, A., Booth, A. R., Brady, Esther C., Chan, W., Chandan, D., Chandler, M. A., Contoux, C., Feng, R., Guo, C., Haywood, A. M., Hunter, S. J., Kamae, Y., Li, Q., Li, X., Lohmann, G., Lunt, D. J., Nisancioglu, K. H., Otto-Bliesner, Bette, Peltier, W. R., Pontes, G. M., Ramstein, G., Sohl, L. E., Stepanek, C., Tan, N., Zhang, Q., Zhang, Z., Wainer, I., Williams, C. J. R.. (2021). Reduced El Niño variability in the mid-Pliocene according to the PlioMIP2 ensemble. UCAR/NCAR - Library. https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7t43xkw. Accessed 01 August 2025.

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