The mid-Piacenzian (Pliocene) climate represents the most geologically recent interval of long-term average warmth, relative to the last million years, sharing similarities with the climate projected for the end of the 21st century. Therefore, this period has been studied by both geoscientists and climate modelers for many years. A better understanding of regional late Pliocene conditions can provide insight into potential climate change impacts, enabling more informed policy decisions for mitigation and adaptation. Previous work comparing climate model results with geologic data highlighted key regional and dynamic situations where there was discord between mean annual SST estimates generated by climate model simulations and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. One key area identified was the mid- to high-latitude North Atlantic. Here, we present a comparison between alkenone-based North Atlantic PRISM4 (Pliocene Research, Interpretation and Synoptic Mapping Project, Phase 4) mean annual SST estimates and an ensemble of ten climate model simulations produced as part of PlioMIP2 (Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project, Phase 2). Our latest research demonstrates that improved experimental design incorporating temporal refinement of the paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and inclusion of new PRISM4 boundary condition data sets, significantly reduces discord between data and models.