Fifty-five million years ago, a sudden, enormous influx of carbon
flooded the ocean and atmosphere for reasons that are still unclear to
scientists. What is clear is that as atmospheric CO2 content increased,
the average global surface temperature rose 5°C to 9°C (9°F to 16°F).
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), as this global warming
event is known, lasted upwards of 170,000 years and had dramatic impacts
on living things both on land and in oceans. In this feature, a team of
paleontologists, paleobotanists, soil scientists, and other researchers
take to the field in Wyoming's Bighorn Basin to document how the
climate, plants, and animals there changed during the PETM. Their work
will help predict how our current global warming event could affect life
on Earth.