Exceptionally high biosphere productivity at the beginning of Marine Isotopic Stage 11

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Brandon, Margaux, Landais, Amaelle, Duchamp-Alphonse, Stephanie, Favre, Violaine, Schmitz, Lea, Abrial, Heloise, Prie, Frederic, Extier, Thomas, Blunier, Thomas
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: BUBBLE CLOSE-OFF; ICE CORE; ANTARCTIC ICE; CHRONOLOGY AICC2012; ATMOSPHERIC OXYGEN; CARBON-DIOXIDE; CLIMATE-CHANGE; TRAPPED GASES; O-2; CO2; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarc*; EPICA; ice core
• Online Access: https://curis.ku.dk/portal/da/publications/exceptionally-high-biosphere-productivity-at-the-beginning-of-marine-isotopic-stage-11(c79f8813-6230-4ddb-a311-183147c0986e).html; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15739-2; https://curis.ku.dk/ws/files/247542316/s41467_020_15739_2.pdf

Significant changes in atmospheric CO2 over glacial-interglacial cycles have mainly been attributed to the Southern Ocean through physical and biological processes. However, little is known about the contribution of global biosphere productivity, associated with important CO2 fluxes. Here we present the first high resolution record of Delta O-17 of O-2 in the Antarctic EPICA Dome C ice core over Termination V and Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 11 and reconstruct the global oxygen biosphere productivity over the last 445 ka. Our data show that compared to the younger terminations, biosphere productivity at the end of Termination V is 10 to 30 % higher. Comparisons with local palaeo observations suggest that strong terrestrial productivity in a context of low eccentricity might explain this pattern. We propose that higher biosphere productivity could have maintained low atmospheric CO2 at the beginning of MIS 11, thus highlighting its control on the global climate during Termination V. Biosphere productivity is an important component of the CO2 cycle, but how it has varied over past glacial-interglacial cycles is not well known. Here, the authors present new data that shows that global biosphere productivity was 10 to 30% higher during Termination V compared to younger deglaciations.