Ice Core Records of Atmospheric CO 2 Around the Last Three Glacial Terminations

Air trapped in bubbles in polar ice cores constitutes an archive for the reconstruction of the global carbon cycle and the relation between greenhouse gases and climate in the past. High-resolution records from Antarctic ice cores show that carbon dioxide concentrations increased by 80 to 100 parts...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Fischer, Hubertus, Wahlen, Martin, Smith, Jesse, Mastroianni, Derek, Deck, Bruce
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1999
Subjects:
Antarctic
Antarc*
ice core
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.283.5408.1712
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.283.5408.1712
Description
Summary:Air trapped in bubbles in polar ice cores constitutes an archive for the reconstruction of the global carbon cycle and the relation between greenhouse gases and climate in the past. High-resolution records from Antarctic ice cores show that carbon dioxide concentrations increased by 80 to 100 parts per million by volume 600 ± 400 years after the warming of the last three deglaciations. Despite strongly decreasing temperatures, high carbon dioxide concentrations can be sustained for thousands of years during glaciations; the size of this phase lag is probably connected to the duration of the preceding warm period, which controls the change in land ice coverage and the buildup of the terrestrial biosphere.

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