Carbon Perturbations during Middle Miocene Warming: An Analog for the Near Future?
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The currently accelerating climate crisis is fundamentally driven by the rapid anthropogenic release of ancient carbon stocks once sequestered in geological reservoirs over millions of years; but the scale and rate of contemporary climate change are without precedent in human history. Understanding the dynamics of carbon perturbations during the geological past is crucial for the decarbonization effort that underpins the current energy transition.
During a short interval in the middle Miocene Epoch (ca. 17–15 million years ago), Earth’s long-term Cenozoic cooling trajectory was briefly interrupted by a pronounced global warming event, known as the Miocene Climate Optimum (MCO). I present a case from the Pacific Northwest of the United States as one of the most unique opportunities to constrain the roles of carbon cycle disturbance, greenhouse forcing, volcanic influence, climate sensitivity, and terrestrial ecosystem response to near-future warming climate.
Sustained rising of greenhouse gas emissions and newly recognized higher Earth climate sensitivity highlight the urgent need for effective climate mitigation. The finite potential of carbon sequestration and storage capacity underscores the necessity for rapid, scalable, and economically viable emissions reduction and removal technologies. Deploying geological-inspired and advanced-engineered sequestration toward carbon neutrality at scale is critical for Earth’s sustainable future.
Dr. Yang’s research interests include forces, rates, ecological, and societal consequences of climate change, ranging from molecular investigations of modern and ancient organisms to global carbon cycles involving CO2 and CH4 changes in the present and the geological past. These involve a range of approaches from fieldwork on extraordinary fossils to laboratory experiments on molecular, organic geochemical, and stable isotopic analyses. Dr. Yang established Bryant University’s Laboratory for Terrestrial Environments and has served its co-director since 2008.
At the Harvard China Project, Professor Yang collaborates with Harvard scholars to examine how climate change shaped the Chinese civilization, what’s the impact of energy structure changes on Chinese economic development during the past 40 years, and how China manages to decarbonize its economy and society as an emerging green energy superpower. His research synthesizes the latest physical science data, archeological and anthropological evidence, and climate and economic modeling results to present stories of China’s evolving human-climate interactions to both English and Chinese readers.
Professor Yang has co-edited three scholarly books and published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles in academic journals including leading ones such as “Science,” “PNAS,” “Nature Communications,” and “Geology.” Professor Yang has received more than 20 scientific awards, honors, and recognitions, including the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Award and Harvard Radcliffe Fellowship. He received Bryant University’s Research and Publication Award twice in 2001 and 2009, and a Distinguished Faculty Award in 2006. The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations selected him as a national Public Intellectual Fellow for the years of 2005-2007. Association for International Education Administrators (AIEA) awarded him the 2014 Neal Presidential Fellowship Award. He was elected Fellow by Geological Society of America in 2019.
Professor Yang received his bachelor's and master’s degrees from China University of Geosciences and his Ph.D. from the University of Idaho. He was an Alfred P. Sloan Postdoctoral Fellow at Wayne State University and University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and received executive development certificates from Graduate School of Education at Harvard University and Business School of Stanford University. Dr. Yang served as Bryant University’s inaugural Vice President for International Affairs during 2012–2023 and has traveled over 20 countries for lectures and research collaborations.