Köhler, Peter; Clark, Peter U (2026): Simulating atmospheric CO2 concentration for the Plio-Pleistocene using a new set of temperature and sea level reconstruction [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.988155

In contrast to previous approaches, new reconstructions of changes in global mean surface temperature (Clark et al., 2024, doi: 10.1126/science.adi1908) and global mean sea level (Clark et al., 2025, doi: 10.1126/science.adv8389) include large variability in global mean sea level throughout the Pleistocene. Here we use them to force the global carbon cycle model BICYCLE-SE in different scenarios that capture the spread in existing CO2 reconstructions.

This data set contains:

- important otherwise not yet available data (4.5 Ma long time series of regional SST split by latitude (65°S-30°S | 30°S-30°N | 30°N-65°N) which have been used to force the model;

- resulting major changes in the simulated carbon cycle (mean ocean salinity; Atlantic meridional overturning strength; Southern Ocean vertical mixing; global sea ice area);

- simulated atmospheric CO2 in 3 scenarios that differ in volcanic CO2 outgassing and weathering strength.

This tgz contains a README.txt and 3 data files, whose headers explain details. The content of the three data files are:

- clark2024s_regional_sst_4.5ma__withheader.dat: Used regional SST data for the last 4.5 Ma based on Clark et al. (2024)

- BICYCLE-SE_all_newforcing_4.5ma_withheader.dat: Important forcing time series for the BICYCLE-SE model

- BICYCLE-SE_3scenarios_atmCO24Ma_withheader.dat: Simulated atmospheric CO2 concentration using the BICYCLE-SE model for 3 different scenarios