The cause of Late Cretaceous cooling: a multi-model/proxy comparison

Proxy temperature reconstructions indicate a dramatic cooling from the Cenomanian to Maastrichtian. Yet the spatial extent of and mechanisms responsible for this cooling remain uncertain given simultaneous climatic influences of tectonic and greenhouse gas changes through the Late Cretaceous. Here, we compare several climate simulations of the Cretaceous using two different Earth System models with a compilation of sea-surface temperature proxies from the Cenomanian and Maastrichtian, to better understand Late Cretaceous climate change. In general, surface temperature responses are consistent between models, lending confidence to our findings. Our comparison of proxies and models confirms that Late Cretaceous cooling was a widespread phenomenon and likely due to a reduction in greenhouse gas concentrations in excess of a halving of CO2, not changes in paleogeography.