Grant Award View - GA66198-V1

The rearrangement of continents over geological timescales can open new connections between the Earth's major oceans. These oceanic seaways can dramatically influence patterns of ocean circulation and are implicated in the onset and expansion of glaciation at both poles. We will use a combination of plate tectonic, solid Earth and oceanographic modelling constrained by marine datasets to deliver a transformational change in understanding how opening seaways controlled the onset of major oceanographic currents, and influenced regional and global changes in climate millions of years ago. Unravelling the influence of seaway opening compared with declining CO2 in the onset of Antarctic and Northern hemisphere glaciation will enable more accurate future climate simulations.