Phys.org August 12, 2024 Understanding tropical South America’s climate history can provide valuable insight into the water cycle, ecosystems, and future climate change, yet past temperature changes are not well-known. An international team of researchers (USA – Brown University, Florida Institute of Technology, the Netherlands) reconstructed temperature and rainfall since ~16,800 y ago in the tropical Andes Mountains. In addition to warming driven by rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations, they observed rapid temperature changes linked to changes in the deep ocean circulation. Their findings suggested that Amazonia’s ecosystems may be challenged by rapid temperature changes superposed on warming from sharply increasing […]