Southern Ocean upwelling, Earth’s obliquity, and glacial-interglacial atmospheric CO 2 change

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Ai, Xuyuan E., Studer, Anja S., Sigman, Daniel M., Martínez-García, Alfredo, Fripiat, François, Thöle, Lena M., Michel, Elisabeth, Gottschalk, Julia, Arnold, Laura, Moretti, Simone, Schmitt, Mareike, Oleynik, Sergey, Jaccard, Samuel L., Haug, Gerald H.
• Other Authors: Swiss National Science Foundation, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Max Planck Society, German Research Foundation, United States National Science Foundation, ExxonMobil (through Princeton University Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2020
• Subjects: Southern Ocean
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abd2115; https://syndication.highwire.org/content/doi/10.1126/science.abd2115; https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.abd2115

Controlling atmospheric carbon dioxide The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) has varied substantially over the past million years in tandem with the glacial cycle. Although it is widely agreed that upwelling of Southern Ocean water is a key factor, the finer details about what caused these CO 2 variations are of great importance for understanding climate. Ai et al. identified three modes of change in Southern Ocean upwelling, adding a third to two previously recognized ones. This new mode can help explain better the relative timing of the glacial and CO 2 cycles. Science , this issue p. 1348