SEMINAR: GEOTOPICS Today: A Mediterranean Dust Source? Linking the desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea to global Late Miocene events

[Arash Sharifi <osharifi@rsmas.miami.edu>]

Monday, April 2, 2012
3:15, SLAB Seminar Room, S/A 103
Refreshments at 3:00 PM

Our upcoming speaker is Dr. Lisa Murphy  , top scientist who recently joined RSMAS/MPO

The title of her talk is "A Mediterranean Dust Source? Linking the desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea to global Late Miocene events"

Abstract

Roughly six million years ago, tectonic movements isolated the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean, an event known as the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). Subsequent evaporative drawdown of the Mediterranean Sea resulted in a subaerial depression with a depth between 1500-2500 m. Paleoclimate records indicate enhanced productivity in the Atlantic Ocean, increased aridity in Central Asia, and glaciation in the Northern Hemisphere during the late Messinian. Nevertheless the mechanisms that generate such changes are still speculative. Here we use the NCAR Community Atmosphere Model coupled with a Slab Ocean Model (CAM-SOM) to examine the regional and global climate response to the desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea, variations in the Earth's orbital parameters and changes in dust loading during the MSC.

 

We hope to see you all there!

Your GEOTOPICS Coordinators,

Keri Vinas and Arash Sharifi