Two Modes of Change in Southern Ocean Productivity Over the Past Million Years

Working Together The variability of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations over glacial cycles, which are central aspects of the climate cycle, was documented decades ago. However, it has been difficult to identify which mechanisms have driven CO 2 variability. Attention has focused on the Southe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Jaccard, S. L., Hayes, C. T., Martínez-García, A., Hodell, D. A., Anderson, R. F., Sigman, D. M., Haug, G. H.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2013
Subjects:
Antarctic
Southern Ocean
The Antarctic
Antarc*
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1227545
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1227545
Description
Summary:Working Together The variability of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations over glacial cycles, which are central aspects of the climate cycle, was documented decades ago. However, it has been difficult to identify which mechanisms have driven CO 2 variability. Attention has focused on the Southern Ocean, because of its unique combination of hydrology and biology, although it has not been clear how the different behaviors of its Antarctic and Subantarctic zones might be reconciled with the observations of atmospheric CO 2 change. Jaccard et al. (p. 1419 ) present a record of productivity from the Atlantic Antarctic Zone that extends back in time far enough to cover the last 10 glacial cycles. The findings show how the combination of effects in the Antarctic and Subantarctic zones can explain most of the atmospheric CO 2 record over the past million years.

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