Paleogeography & climate

Understand how evolving geography drove past climate changes (ongoing)

Over the past million years, evolution of paleogeography has been responsible for changes in the climate system. As gateways closed and opened, mountain belts grew and land-sea distribution evolved, winds and rainfall and oceanic currents have changed to shape the modern world. Ocean-atmospehere models enable to explore how topography and land-sea mask distribution affect the climate system during the Cenozoic, with a specific focus on the Miocene.

Left - early Miocene geography (from Poblete et al. 2021). Right - late Miocene geography (from Sarr et al., 2022)

 

Projects:
- Topography and Asian Monsoon
- Seaways and Miocene ocean circulation

Relevant publications

-Tardif, D., Sarr, A-C., Fluteau, F., et al. The role of paleogeography in Asian monsoon evolution: a review and new insights from climate modelling, Earth-Science Reviews, 23:104464 (2023).

-Pillot, Q., Donnadieu, Y., Sarr, A-C., Ladant, J-B., Suchéras-Marx, B. Evolution of ocean circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean during the Miocene : impact of the Greenland Ice-Sheet and the Eastern Tethys Seaway, Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 37:e2022PA004415 (2022).

-Sarr, A.-C., Donnadieu, Y., Bolton, C. T., et al. Neogene South Asian Monsoon Rainfall and Wind Histories diverged due to topography effects, Nature Geoscience, 15:314-319 (2022).