Late quaternary sea-level highstands and deep-ocean circulation variability during the mid-pliocene : implications for future climate change

Abstract

Reconstructing climate conditions during Earth’s recent history provides us with the best idea of what changes can be expected in the future. Such reconstructions also provide critical information helping to constrain models predicting the range of scenarios we can expect with continued anthropogenic carbon emissions. The contents of this work focus on past variations in sea level and relatively large and abrupt climate cycles during periods particularly relevant for understanding future impacts of climate change on the human species, and vice versa.