Paleoclimate Pattern Effects in the Pliocene and Last Glacial Maximum Help Constrain Modern Climate Sensitivity

Paleoclimates provide examples of past climate change that inform estimates of modern warming from greenhouse-gas emissions, known as Earth's climate sensitivity. However, differences between past and present climate change must be accounted for when inferring climate sensitivity from paleoclimate evidence. The closest paleoclimate analog to near-term warming from greenhouse-gas emissions is the Pliocene (5.3-2.6 Ma), a warm epoch with atmospheric CO2 concentrations similar to today. Recent reconstructions indicate the Pliocene was 1°C warmer than previously thought, implying higher climate sensitivity, which is also supported by recent reconstructions showing more cooling with reduced CO2 at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; 19-23 thousand years ago).

However, large-scale patterns of paleoclimate temperature change differ strongly from modern projections under CO2 forcing. Climate feedbacks and sensitivity depend on temperature patterns, and such "pattern effects" must be accounted for when using paleoclimates to constrain modern climate sensitivity. 

Here we combine data-assimilation reconstructions with atmospheric general circulation models to show Earth's climate is more sensitive to Pliocene and LGM forcing than modern CO2 forcing. Pliocene ice sheets, topography, and vegetation alter patterns of ocean warming and excite destabilizing cloud feedbacks, and LGM feedbacks are similarly amplified by massive ice sheets. Accounting for paleoclimate pattern effects produces a best estimate (median) for modern climate sensitivity of 2.8°C and 66% confidence interval of 2.4-3.4°C (90% CI: 2.1-4.0°C), substantially revising climate sensitivity's upper bound and projections of 21st-century warming.