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Nature Geoscience 2, 156–159 (1 March 2009) | doi:10.1038/ngeo454

Kick-starting ancient warming

E. G. Nisbet , S. M. Jones , J. Maclennan , G. Eagles , J. Moed , N. Warwick , S. Bekki , P. Braesicke , J. A. Pyle & C. M. R. Fowler

The warm period known as the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was a period of climatic turmoil that lasted more than 100,000 years. Ocean temperatures increased by 3–10 |[deg]|C, and atmospheric concentrations of methane and carbon dioxide rose sharply.