Jan Landwehrs, Georg Feulner, Stefan Petri, Benjamin Sames and Michael Wagreich produced an ensemble of equilibrium climate simulations, covering a timespan of 195 million years in in steps of 5 million years, varying important Earth System boundary conditions. The transition from the Pangaea supercontinent towards an almost modern continental arrangement drives a shift from extremely seasonal and dry continental climates towards more balanced conditions. Increasing flooding of continental areas from rising sea levels also contributes to this and additionally introduces a long-term warming baseline trend, together with the increasing brightness of the sun. However, reconstructed changes in atmospheric CO2 represent the dominant driver of global temperatures, with peaks in the Triassic to early Jurassic and the mid-Cretaceous. These potentially relate to low weathering rates on the dry supercontinent and then high tectonic degassing rates, respectively.
Link to the Study: https://doi.org/10.1029/2020PA004134
AGU Eos Research Spotlight: https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EO161439
University of Vienna: https://fgga.univie.ac.at/news/artikel/klimawandel-in-der-dinosaurierzeit/
