The Late Pliocene jet stream: Changes and drivers of the mean state and variability

Buchan, Abigail E. C.; Haywood, Alan M.; Tindall, Julia C.; Hunter, Stephen J.; Dolan, Aisling M.; Hill, Daniel J.

doi:10.5194/cp-22-861-2026

Articles | Volume 22, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-861-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-861-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 4

Research article

|

22 Apr 2026

Research article |

| 22 Apr 2026

The Late Pliocene jet stream: Changes and drivers of the mean state and variability

Abigail E. C. Buchan, Alan M. Haywood, Julia C. Tindall, Stephen J. Hunter, Aisling M. Dolan, and Daniel J. Hill

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-861-2026-supplement

Data sets

HadCM3 forcing factorisation experiment output A. Buchan https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19470973

Short summary

Studying the climate of the Late Pliocene (~ 3 million years ago) can help improve our knowledge of the climate system. We investigate how, and why the jet steam changes during this time. Using climate model simulations of the Late Pliocene we find a weaker, more variable and poleward shifted North Pacific jet stream which may impact the occurrence of extreme events. Using new simulations, we find the changes in the jet steam can be attributed to the orography boundary conditions.