The role of vegetation feedback during the late Miocene climate transition

The late Miocene was an important stage for the formation of modern-like ecological and environmental patterns. Proxy data from the middle to late Miocene reveal that large-scale cooling and drying occurred, however, the reasons for this climate transition remain unclear. Through a compilation of proxy data and climate simulations, our results indicate that atmospheric CO₂ decline markedly decreased the temperature and reduced the precipitation in most of the land area, while the paleogeographic changes enhanced cooling at northern high latitudes and increased precipitation in East Asia, East Africa and South America. In comparison, vegetation changes accelerated cooling at northern high latitudes and modulated precipitation at low- and mid-latitude continents. This deepens the understanding of the mechanism of the late Miocene climate transition.