Deglacial Subantarctic CO2 outgassing driven by a weakened solubility pump
The Subantarctic Southern Ocean has long been thought to be an important contributor to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO2) during glacial-interglacial transitions. Extensive studies suggest that a weakened biological pump, a process associated with nutrient utilization e...
| Published in: | Nature Communications |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00792/90367/95888.pdf https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00792/90367/95889.pdf https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00792/90367/95890.pdf https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32895-9 https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00792/90367/ |
| Summary: | The Subantarctic Southern Ocean has long been thought to be an important contributor to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO2) during glacial-interglacial transitions. Extensive studies suggest that a weakened biological pump, a process associated with nutrient utilization efficiency, drove up surface-water pCO2 in this region during deglaciations. By contrast, regional influences of the solubility pump, a process mainly linked to temperature variations, have been largely overlooked. Here, we evaluate relative roles of the biological and solubility pumps in determining surface-water pCO2 variabilities in the Subantarctic Southern Ocean during the last deglaciation, based on paired reconstructions of surface-water pCO2, temperature, and nutrient utilization efficiency. We show that compared to the biological pump, the solubility pump imposed a strong impact on deglacial Subantarctic surface-water pCO2 variabilities. Our findings therefore reveal a previously underappreciated role of the solubility pump in modulating deglacial Subantarctic CO2 release and possibly past atmospheric pCO2 fluctuations. |
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