THE PALEOCLIMATE ATLAS (ArcGIS)

Work has begun on a Paleoclimate Atlas that uses the Fast Ocean and Atmosphere Model (FOAM) and GIS software (ArcGIS, ESRI) to illustrate the Earth’s evolving climate during the past 750 million years. The Paleoclimate Atlas is made up of four volumes: 1) Cenozoic, 2) Cretaceous and Late Jurassic, 3) Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic (Carboniferous – Early/Middle Jurassic), and 4) Late Precambrian and Early Paleozoic. There will be more than 50 paleoclimatic reconstructions in the completed Paleoclimate Atlas. As of June 2010, 18 simulations have been run: late Miocene (10 ma), Oligocene (30 Ma), late Eocene (45 Ma), K/T boundary (65 Ma), Cenomanian/Turonian(90 Ma), early Aptian (120 Ma), earliest Cretaceous (140 Ma), late Jurassic (160 Ma), early Jurassic (180 Ma), Late Triassic (220 Ma), Permo-Triassic (250 Ma), early Permian (280 Ma), Mississippian (340 Ma), Late Devonian (360 Ma), Siluro-Devonian (400 Ma), latest Ordovician (430 Ma), Cambro-Ordovician (480 Ma), and Neoproterozoic (Snow Ball Earth, 600 Ma).

For each paleoclimatic reconstruction, there are ~20 feature layers describing important aspects of the Earth’s ancient climate: atmospheric circulation (seasonal pressure systems and winds), seasonal temperatures, rainfall, runoff, paleorivers and drainage basins, oceanography (seasonal surface currents, salinity, areas of upwelling, areas of anoxia), and paleogeography (highstand and lowstand coastlines, a 3D digital elevation model, and the predicted location of deltas and clastics influx to the oceans).

The climatic information collected in the PaleoclimateAtlas will be a principle input for the “Earth System History Archive” (ESHA). The Earth System History Archive, in collaboration with the Paleobiology Database, the Global Geology website, and the PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas, is a compilation of important paleo-environmental variables (e.g., elevation, bathymetry, temperature, rainfall, ocean currents, salinity, upwelling, etc). The goal of the ESHA is to provide earth scientists and earth historians with a concise, accurate, and informative digital description of the evolution of the Earth System during the past one billion years. Using GIS technology it is now possible to store, retrieve, and visualize this wealth of information about the Earth's distant past.