Ancient Antarctica was as Hot as Today's California Coast and Florida

As our climate shifts and changes, it's more important than ever to understand its past. Now, scientists have discovered that parts of ancient Antarctica were as warm as today's California coast, and polar regions of the southern Pacific Ocean were as hot as Florida. The findings reveal a bit more about Earth's ancient climate.

So how exactly did they manage to measure these past temperatures? The scientists first chose to focus on the Antarctic during the Eocene epoch, which occurred 40 to 50 million years ago. At that time, there were much greater concentrations of atmospheric CO2. This, in turn, caused a greenhouse climate that was far warmer than today.

The researchers then measured concentrations of rare isotopes in ancient fossil shells. This allowed them to see that temperatures in part of Antarctica reached as high as 63 degrees Fahrenheit during the Eocene. The average temperatures hovered around 57 degrees Fahrenheit, which is similar to the average annual temperature of the California coast today. They also found that temperatures in the southern Pacific Ocean hovered around 72 degrees, which is similar to seawater temperatures in Florida today.

"By measuring past temperatures in different parts of Antarctica, this study gives us a clearer perspective of just how warm Antarctica was when the Earth's atmosphere contained uch more CO2 than it does today," said Peter Douglas, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We now know that it was warm across the continent, but also that some parts were considerably warmer than others. This provides strong evidence that global warming is especially pronounced close to the Earth's poles. Warming in these regions has significant consequences for climate well beyond the high latitudes due to ocean circulation and melting of polar ice that leads to sea level rise."

The findings reveal a bit more about Earth's past climate. This, in particular, is important for understand what future climate trends might be. As CO2 levels continue to rise in the present day, it's crucial to understand how this increased gas might impact our environment-and how quickly.

The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.