Scientists reveal how hot the Earth was 50 million yrs ago

Washington, July 6 (ANI): A team of scientists has provided a much clearer picture of the Earth's temperature approximately 50 million years ago when CO2 concentrations were higher than today.

The study, by researchers from Syracuse and Yale universities, may shed light on what to expect in the future if CO2 levels keep rising.

"The early Eocene Epoch (50 million years ago) was about as warm as the Earth has been over the past 65 million years, since the extinction of the dinosaurs," Linda Ivany, associate professor of earth sciences said.

"There were crocodiles above the Arctic Circle and palm trees in Alaska. The questions we are trying to answer are how much warmer was it at different latitudes and how can that information be used to project future temperatures based on what we know about CO2 levels?" she revealed.

The SU and Yale research team found that average Eocene water temperature along the subtropical U.S. Gulf Coast hovered around 27 degrees centigrade (80 degrees Fahrenheit), slightly cooler than earlier studies predicted. Modern temperatures in the study area average 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

Additionally, the scientists discovered that, during the Eocene, temperatures in the study area did not change more than 3 to 5 degrees centigrade across seasons, whereas today, the area's seasonal temperatures fluctuate by 12 degrees centigrade.

The new results indicate that the polar and sub-polar regions, while still very warm, could not have been quite as hot as previously suggested.

"Our study shows that previous estimates of temperatures during the early Eocene were likely overestimated, especially at higher latitudes near the poles," Caitlin Keating-Bitonti, the corresponding author of the study, said.

"The study does not mean elevated atmospheric CO2 levels did not produce a greenhouse effect-the Earth was clearly hotter during the early Eocene.

"Our results support predictions that increasing levels of atmospheric CO2 will result in a warmer climate with less seasonality across the globe," she stated.

The study has been published online in the journal Geology, the premier publication of the Geological Society of America, and is forthcoming in print August 1. (ANI)