Did North Atlantic cooling and freshening from 3.65–3.5 Ma precondition Northern Hemisphere ice sheet growth?

The North Atlantic Current (NAC) as part of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is the major supplier of heat into the northern North Atlantic. Pliocene changes of AMOC strength were speculated to either have amplified or diminished the Northern Hemisphere Glaciation (NHG) 2.7 million years ago (Ma). However, from the North Atlantic, little evidence is known about AMOC changes at around 3.6 Ma. At this time the intensification...