Reconstructions of atmospheric CO2 and 13C from Antarctic ice cores over the last glacial cycle ...

• Main Author: Eggleston, Sarah
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: :unas 2015
• Subjects: 530 Physics; Antarctic; Antarc*; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48350/192568; https://boris.unibe.ch/192568/

As the second most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere after water vapor, carbon dioxide plays a major role in the Earth’s climate system. This is manifested both in direct effects, e.g. by altering the radiative balance in the atmosphere, as well as indirectly, e.g. through ocean acidification, and through complex feedbacks: for example, rising CO2 concentrations and the associated warming can lead to fertilization of the terrestrial biosphere, which in turn causes an increased drawdown of atmospheric CO2; on longer timescales, the carbonate system in the ocean interacts with atmospheric CO2 through the feedback process known as carbonate compensation. In order to better understand the natural variations of climate as well as to be able to more accurately predict the impact of future CO2 emissions scenarios on various aspects of the Earth system, paleoclimatologists turn to the past to investigate climatic changes that have occurred on millennial to glacial/interglacial timescales and beyond. The ...