Carbon isotopes characterize rapid changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide during the last deglaciation

2016/03/14 by Thomas Bauska, Daniel Baggenstos, Edward J. Brook +6 · 5 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · Chemistry · #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics #Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena #Deglaciation #Carbon dioxide #Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere #Environmental science #Carbon fibers #Isotopes of carbon #Atmospheric carbon cycle #Atmospheric sciences #Oceanography #Environmental chemistry #Geology #Carbon sequestration #Chemistry #Total organic carbon #Materials science #Holocene

paper · pdf · doi:10.1073/pnas.1513868113

openalex publication_date 2016/03/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

An understanding of the mechanisms that control CO2 change during glacial-interglacial cycles remains elusive. Here we help to constrain changing sources with a high-precision, high-resolution deglacial record of the stable isotopic composition of carbon in CO2(δ(13)C-CO2) in air extracted from ice samples from Taylor Glacier, Antarctica. During the initial rise in atmospheric CO2 from 17.6 to 15.5 ka, these data demarcate a decrease in δ(13)C-CO2, likely due to a weakened oceanic biological pump. From 15.5 to 11.5 ka, the continued atmospheric CO2 rise of 40 ppm is associated with small changes in δ(13)C-CO2, consistent with a nearly equal contribution from a further weakening of the biological pump and rising ocean temperature. These two trends, related to marine sources, are punctuated at 16.3 and 12.9 ka with abrupt, century-scale perturbations in δ(13)C-CO2 that suggest rapid oxidation of organic land carbon or enhanced air-sea gas exchange in the Southern Ocean. Additional century-scale increases in atmospheric CO2 coincident with increases in atmospheric CH4 and Northern Hemisphere temperature at the onset of the Bølling (14.6-14.3 ka) and Holocene (11.6-11.4 ka) intervals are associated with small changes in δ(13)C-CO2, suggesting a combination of sources that included rising surface ocean temperature.

Citations

• Enhanced tropical methane production in response to iceberg discharge in the North Atlantic
• Centennial-scale changes in the global carbon cycle during the last deglaciation
• The Last Glacial Termination
• Glacial‐interglacial CO2 change: The Iron Hypothesis
• Collapse and rapid resumption of Atlantic meridional circulation linked to deglacial climate changes
• Midlatitude westerlies, atmospheric CO2, and climate change during the ice ages
• Variation of atmospheric CO2 by ventilation of the ocean's deepest water
• Onset of deglacial warming in West Antarctica driven by local orbital forcing
• Global warming preceded by increasing carbon dioxide concentrations during the last deglaciation
• Precise interpolar phasing of abrupt climate change during the last ice age

Cited by

• Late Quaternary dynamics of Arctic biota from ancient environmental genomics
• Synchronous volcanic eruptions and abrupt climate change ∼17.7 ka plausibly linked by stratospheric ozone depletion
• Antarctic temperature and CO 2 : near-synchrony yet variable phasing during the last deglaciation
• A Horizontal Ice Core From Taylor Glacier, Its Implications for Antarctic Climate History, and an Improved Taylor Dome Ice Core Time Scale
• Ice core [wikipedia]

Related

• Abrupt change in atmospheric CO2 during the last ice age
• Southern Ocean drives multidecadal atmospheric CO 2 rise during Heinrich Stadials
• The Role of Carbon Dioxide During the Onset of Antarctic Glaciation
• Antarctic temperature and CO 2 : near-synchrony yet variable phasing during the last deglaciation
• The Southern Ocean’s Role in Carbon Exchange During the Last Deglaciation