Around 3.3 million years ago, falling greenhouse gas concentrations cooled Earth, making it sensitive to orbital changes that triggered ice ages from 2.6 million years ago onward. The North Sea Basin preserves a 1.2 km sediment record of ~50 ice ages, capturing Europe’s climate and ecosystem evolution. Drilling this archive will reveal feedback mechanisms within the climate system and improve understanding of environmental responses to modern warming.

ENIGMA investigates a major, little-understood global oceanic and ecological upheaval during the early Miocene (23–17 million years ago). This interval saw distinct biodiversity shifts such as a >70% shark extinction, plankton turnovers, and cetacean radiations, alongside changes in global productivity and ice sheet dynamics. ENIGMA will analyze Atlantic Ocean sediment cores, refine age models, reconstruct climate and biotic records, and model ecosystem responses to Earth system change.