The preprint of our latest study is now available in Climate of the Past Discussion!
Short summary: Temperature seasonality is an important climate parameter for biodiversity. Fossil plants describe its middle Eocene to early Oligocene increase in the Northern Hemisphere, but underlying mechanisms have not been studied in detail yet. Using climate simulations, we map global seasonality changes and show that major contemporary forcing: atmospheric CO2 lowering, Antarctica ice-sheet expansion, and particularly related sea level drop participated in this phenomenon and its spatial distribution.
Toumoulin A., Tardif D., Donnadieu Y., Licht A., Ladant J.-B., Kunzmann L., & Dupont-Nivet G. [preprint, in review]. Evolution of continental temperature seasonality from the Eocene greenhouse to the Oligocene icehouse - A model-data comparison. Climate of the Past Discussion.
Greetings from the Alpilles where I spent two nice days after submission (nothing to do with the Eocene, it's just a nice early spring Mediterranean landscape. Having worked with models for three years, I kind of lack fieldwork photos).