Global mean sea level over the past 4.5 million years

Changes in global mean sea level (GMSL) during the late Cenozoic remain uncertain. We use a reconstruction of changes in δ<sup>18</sup>O of seawater to reconstruct GMSL since 4.5 million years ago (Ma) that accounts for temperature-driven changes in the δ<sup>18</sup>O of global ice sheets. Between 4.5 and 3 Ma, sea level highstands remained up to 20 m above present whereas the first lowstands below present suggest onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation at 4 Ma. Intensification of global glaciation occurred from 3 Ma to 2.5 Ma, culminating in lowstands similar to the Last Glacial Maximum lowstand at 21,000 years ago and that reoccurred throughout much of the Pleistocene. We attribute the middle Pleistocene transition in ice sheet variability (1.2 Ma to 0.62 Ma) to modulation of 41-thousand-year (kyr) obliquity forcing by an increase in ~100-kyr CO<sub>2</sub> variability.

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Publication Details

Journal
Science
Published
2025-10-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adv8389
Citations
16
Primary Topic
Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
20.81
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article

Global mean sea level over the past 4.5 million years

S. W. Hostetler, Patrick J. Bartlein, Yair Rosenthal, Peter Köhler et al.
16 citations
Science
Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
20.81
article

Global mean sea level over the past 4.5 million years

S. W. Hostetler, Patrick J. Bartlein, Yair Rosenthal, Peter Köhler, Chenyu Zhu, Jonathan M. Gregory, Peter U. Clark, Daniel P. Schrag, Jeremy D. Shakun, Nicklas G. Pisias, David Pollard, Zhengyu Liu
article en
16 citations

Abstract

Changes in global mean sea level (GMSL) during the late Cenozoic remain uncertain. We use a reconstruction of changes in δ<sup>18</sup>O of seawater to reconstruct GMSL since 4.5 million years ago (Ma) that accounts for temperature-driven changes in the δ<sup>18</sup>O of global ice sheets. Between 4.5 and 3 Ma, sea level highstands remained up to 20 m above present whereas the first lowstands below present suggest onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation at 4 Ma. Intensification of global glaciation occurred from 3 Ma to 2.5 Ma, culminating in lowstands similar to the Last Glacial Maximum lowstand at 21,000 years ago and that reoccurred throughout much of the Pleistocene. We attribute the middle Pleistocene transition in ice sheet variability (1.2 Ma to 0.62 Ma) to modulation of 41-thousand-year (kyr) obliquity forcing by an increase in ~100-kyr CO<sub>2</sub> variability.

ScienceVol. 390(6770)
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US), Boston College (US), Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE), Met Office (GB), Planetary Science Institute (US), Pennsylvania State University (US), Oregon State University (US), Harvard University (US), University of Ulster (GB), University of Oregon (US), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), National Centre for Atmospheric Science (GB), Institute of Atmospheric Physics (CN), The Ohio State University (US), University of Reading (GB)
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
20.81
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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