Deglacial marine radiocarbon time-slice animation ...

• Main Author: Skinner, Luke
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2023
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; radiocarbon; carbon cycle; oceanography; North Atlantic; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5446/63113; https://av.tib.eu/media/63113

Radiocarbon is a tracer that provides unique insights into the ocean’s ability to sequester CO2 from the atmosphere. While spatial patterns of radiocarbon in the ocean interior can indicate the vectors and timescales for carbon transport through the ocean, estimates of the global average ocean-atmosphere radiocarbon age offset (B-Atm) place constraints on the closure of the global carbon cycle. Here, we apply a Bayesian interpolation method to compiled B-Atm data to generate global interpolated fields and mean ocean B-Atm estimates for a suite of time-slices across the last deglaciation. The compiled data and interpolations confirm a stepwise and spatially heterogeneous ‘rejuvenation’ of the ocean, suggesting that carbon was released to the atmosphere through two swings of a ‘ventilation seesaw’ operating between the North Atlantic and the Southern Ocean/North Pacific. Sensitivity tests using the Bern3D model of intermediate complexity demonstrate that a portion of the reconstructed deglacial B-Atm changes ...