Article
 

Glacial greenhouse-gas fluctuations controlled by ocean circulation changes

Public Deposited

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/articles/k06989141

Descriptions

Attribute NameValues
Creator
Abstract
  • Earth's climate and the concentrations of the atmospheric greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) varied strongly on millennial timescales during past glacial periods. Large and rapid warming events in Greenland and the North Atlantic were followed by more gradual cooling, and are highly correlated with fluctuations of N2O as recorded in ice cores. Antarctic temperature variations, on the other hand, were smaller and more gradual, showed warming during the Greenland cold phase and cooling while the North Atlantic was warm, and were highly correlated with fluctuations in CO2. Abrupt changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) have often been invoked to explain the physical characteristics of these Dansgaard–Oeschger climate oscillations, but the mechanisms for the greenhouse-gas variations and their linkage to the AMOC have remained unclear. Here we present simulations with a coupled model of glacial climate and biogeochemical cycles, forced only with changes in the AMOC. The model simultaneously reproduces characteristic features of the Dansgaard–Oeschger temperature, as well as CO2 and N2O fluctuations. Despite significant changes in the land carbon inventory, CO2 variations on millennial timescales are dominated by slow changes in the deep ocean inventory of biologically sequestered carbon and are correlated with Antarctic temperature and Southern Ocean stratification. In contrast, N2O co-varies more rapidly with Greenland temperatures owing to fast adjustments of the thermocline oxygen budget. These results suggest that ocean circulation changes were the primary mechanism that drove glacial CO2 and N2O fluctuations on millennial timescales.
Resource Type
DOI
Date Available
Date Issued
Citation
  • Schmittner, A., E. D. Galbraith (2008) Glacial greenhouse gas fluctuations controlled by ocean circulation changes, Nature, 456, 373-376, doi:10.1038/nature07531
Journal Title
Journal Volume
  • 456
Academic Affiliation
Rights Statement
Publisher
Peer Reviewed
Language
Replaces

Relationships

Parents:

This work has no parents.

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details nature07531_proof1.pdf 2017-07-24 Public Download