# How the Southern Ocean helped fuel Earth's warmest climate in 65 million years

Source: [Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-southern-ocean-fuel-earth-warmest.html) · 2026-11-09 · Earth & Climate
Page: https://themorning.science/story/how-the-southern-ocean-helped-fuel-earth-s-warmest-climate-in-65-million-years-2e7ea8a401df0688
Kind: research · Impact: medium

## In brief

- About 50 million years ago, Earth's climate was the warmest since the extinction of the dinosaurs.
- Global temperatures were more than 10°C higher than today, and atmospheric CO₂ reached around 1,600 parts per million.
- The article examines what kept CO₂ levels so high during that period, with the Southern Ocean identified as a contributing factor.

## Why it matters

The episode is a deep-time analogue for high-CO₂ climates, helping researchers test how ocean processes regulate atmospheric carbon over long timescales.

## Coverage

- [How the Southern Ocean helped fuel Earth's warmest climate in 65 million years](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-southern-ocean-fuel-earth-warmest.html) — Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change, 2026-11-09

Tags: paleoclimate, southern ocean, carbon cycle, warm climate, co2

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science