Environmental Science and Engineering Seminar

The Pliocene, a geologic epoch spanning ~2.6-5.3 Ma, was a period in Earth's history where temperatures were several degrees warmer than today and atmospheric CO2 was close to modern levels, making it an analogue for future climate change. Following this interval, the planet's climate shifted to the familiar glacial-interglacial cycles of the Pleistocene (~0-2.6 Ma), beginning with the development of extensive Northern Hemisphere ice sheets at ~2.7 Ma. In response to these changes through the Plio-Pleistocene, several components of the Earth System, particularly related to East Asia, varied both temporally and spatially, further modifying regional and global climate through various feedbacks. In this talk, I will discuss our work utilizing a combination of geochemical proxies derived from North Pacific marine sediments and regional atmospheric models to better understand the evolution of atmospheric circulation and East Asian desert landscapes across the last ~5 Myr.