Toarcian extreme warmth led to tropical cyclone intensification

authored by: François Nicolas Krencker, Stéphane Bodin, Guillaume Suan, Ulrich Heimhofer, Lahcen Kabiri, Adrian Immenhauser
Abstract: Models predict that tropical cyclone intensity should increase on a warming planet. Observing this relationship remains, however, a difficult task since no clear trend is yet emerging from the anthropogenic record. The geological past offers the opportunity to study this relationship by looking at episodes of extreme warmth, such as the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE, Early Jurassic, ca. 181 Ma). In this study, we document an increase in the occurrence of storm-related deposits during the onset of the T-OAE in the tide-dominated High Atlas Basin of Morocco, associated with a drastic deepening of the mean storm weather wave base. The palaeolatitude of the High Atlas Basin (18° North during the Early Jurassic) rules out winter storms as the driving mechanism behind the formation of these deposits and points to a dramatic intensification of tropical cyclone intensity during the T-OAE global warming. These new results, combined with the previously reported ubiquitous appearance of storm deposits during the T-OAE in tropical seas of the western Tethyan area, support the concept that the globally averaged intensity of tropical cyclones will increase in the coming century due to the anthropogenic climate change.
Organisation(s): Institute of Geology
External Organisation(s): Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
Universite Moulay Ismail
Type: Article
Journal: Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Volume: 425
Pages: 120-130
No. of pages: 11
ISSN: 0012-821X
Publication date: 01.09.2015
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Geophysics, Geochemistry and Petrology, Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous), Space and Planetary Science
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 13 - Climate Action
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2015.06.003 (Access: Closed)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2015.06.003 (Access: Unknown)