Global warming is widely considered to cause an intensification of the water cycle,with a globally ‘wet-wetter, dry-drier’ response predicted. However, regional variations in the water cycle are more uncertain. Understanding how the water cycle operates during past warm climates could provide insights into the mechanisms which will govern future changes.
Reconstructing the water cycle
The stable hydrogen isotopic composition value of lipid biomarkers (especially leaf waxes) can be used to reconstruct the isotopic composition of paleoenvironmental water.
A range of climatic and plant physiological characteristics govern the stable hydrogen isotopic value of leaf waxes. However, if these parameters can be accounted for through corroboratory evidence (e.g. paleovegetation data and complementary proxies), constraints imposed by site latitude, or climate modelling, then variations in stable hydrogen isotope values can be used as a tracer of the hydrological cycle.
KEY PUBLICATIONS
Inglis, G.N., Carmichael, M., Farnsworth, A., Lunt, D.J and Pancost, R.D. A long-term, high-latitude record of Eocene hydrological chance in the Greenland region. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. In revision.
Inglis, G.N., Farnsworth, A., Carmichael, M., Collinson, M.E., Naafs, B.D.A., Lunt, D.J., Valdes, P.J., and Pancost, R.D. Terrestrial environmental change during the PETM: a cautionary tale. Global and Planetary Change. 181. 102991.
Carmichael, M.J., Inglis, G.N., Badger, M.P.S., Naafs, B.D.A., Behrooz, L., Remmelzwaal, S., Montiero, F., Rohrssen, M., Farnsworth, A., Buss, H., Dickson, A.J., Valdes, P.J., Lunt, D.J and Pancost, R.D. Hydrological and associated biogeochemical consequences of rapid global warming during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Global and Planetary Change. 157. 114-138