Ice Core Records of Atmospheric N 2 O Covering the Last 106,000 Years
Paleoatmospheric records of trace-gas concentrations recovered from ice cores provide important sources of information on many biogeochemical cycles involving carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. Here, we present a 106,000-year record of atmospheric nitrous oxide (N 2 O) along with corresponding isotopic r...
| Published in: | Science |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2003
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1085293 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1085293 |
| Summary: | Paleoatmospheric records of trace-gas concentrations recovered from ice cores provide important sources of information on many biogeochemical cycles involving carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. Here, we present a 106,000-year record of atmospheric nitrous oxide (N 2 O) along with corresponding isotopic records spanning the last 30,000 years, which together suggest minimal changes in the ratio of marine to terrestrial N 2 O production. During the last glacial termination, both marine and oceanic N 2 O emissions increased by 40 ± 8%. We speculate that our records do not support those hypotheses that invoke enhanced export production to explain low carbon dioxide values during glacial periods. |
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