Impact of iron fertilisation on atmospheric CO 2 during the last glaciation
While several processes have been identified to explain the decrease in atmospheric CO 2 during glaciations, a better quantification of the contribution of each of these processes is needed. For example, enhanced aeolian iron input into the ocean during glacial times has been suggested to drive a 5...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:4b569698ce294e0190ba9702fd54884d 2023-08-20T04:02:33+02:00 Impact of iron fertilisation on atmospheric CO 2 during the last glaciation H. Saini K. J. Meissner L. Menviel K. Kvale 2023-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1559-2023 https://doaj.org/article/4b569698ce294e0190ba9702fd54884d EN eng Copernicus Publications https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/19/1559/2023/cp-19-1559-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9324 https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9332 doi:10.5194/cp-19-1559-2023 1814-9324 1814-9332 https://doaj.org/article/4b569698ce294e0190ba9702fd54884d Climate of the Past, Vol 19, Pp 1559-1584 (2023) Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1559-2023 2023-07-30T00:36:51Z While several processes have been identified to explain the decrease in atmospheric CO 2 during glaciations, a better quantification of the contribution of each of these processes is needed. For example, enhanced aeolian iron input into the ocean during glacial times has been suggested to drive a 5 to 28 ppm atmospheric CO 2 decrease. Here, we constrain this contribution by performing a set of sensitivity experiments with different aeolian iron input patterns and iron solubility factors under boundary conditions corresponding to 70 000 years before present (70 ka), a time period characterised by the first observed peak in glacial dust flux. We show that the decrease in CO 2 as a function of Southern Ocean iron input follows an exponential decay relationship. This exponential decay response arises due to the saturation of the biological pump efficiency and levels out at ∼21 ppm in our simulations. We show that the changes in atmospheric CO 2 are more sensitive to the solubility of iron in the ocean than the regional distribution of the iron fluxes. If surface water iron solubility is considered constant through time, we find a CO 2 drawdown of ∼4 to ∼8 ppm. However, there is evidence that iron solubility was higher during glacial times. A best estimate of solubility changing from 1 % during interglacials to 3 % to 5 % under glacial conditions yields a ∼9 to 11 ppm CO 2 decrease at 70 ka, while a plausible range of CO 2 drawdown between 4 to 16 ppm is obtained using the wider but possible range of 1 % to 10 %. This would account for ∼12 %–50 % of the reconstructed decrease in atmospheric CO 2 ( ∼32 ppm) between 71 and 64 ka. We further find that in our simulations the decrease in atmospheric CO 2 concentration is solely driven by iron fluxes south of the Antarctic polar front, while iron fertilisation elsewhere plays a negligible role. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Southern Ocean Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Climate of the Past 19 7 1559 1584 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 H. Saini K. J. Meissner L. Menviel K. Kvale Impact of iron fertilisation on atmospheric CO 2 during the last glaciation |
topic_facet |
Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
description |
While several processes have been identified to explain the decrease in atmospheric CO 2 during glaciations, a better quantification of the contribution of each of these processes is needed. For example, enhanced aeolian iron input into the ocean during glacial times has been suggested to drive a 5 to 28 ppm atmospheric CO 2 decrease. Here, we constrain this contribution by performing a set of sensitivity experiments with different aeolian iron input patterns and iron solubility factors under boundary conditions corresponding to 70 000 years before present (70 ka), a time period characterised by the first observed peak in glacial dust flux. We show that the decrease in CO 2 as a function of Southern Ocean iron input follows an exponential decay relationship. This exponential decay response arises due to the saturation of the biological pump efficiency and levels out at ∼21 ppm in our simulations. We show that the changes in atmospheric CO 2 are more sensitive to the solubility of iron in the ocean than the regional distribution of the iron fluxes. If surface water iron solubility is considered constant through time, we find a CO 2 drawdown of ∼4 to ∼8 ppm. However, there is evidence that iron solubility was higher during glacial times. A best estimate of solubility changing from 1 % during interglacials to 3 % to 5 % under glacial conditions yields a ∼9 to 11 ppm CO 2 decrease at 70 ka, while a plausible range of CO 2 drawdown between 4 to 16 ppm is obtained using the wider but possible range of 1 % to 10 %. This would account for ∼12 %–50 % of the reconstructed decrease in atmospheric CO 2 ( ∼32 ppm) between 71 and 64 ka. We further find that in our simulations the decrease in atmospheric CO 2 concentration is solely driven by iron fluxes south of the Antarctic polar front, while iron fertilisation elsewhere plays a negligible role. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
H. Saini K. J. Meissner L. Menviel K. Kvale |
author_facet |
H. Saini K. J. Meissner L. Menviel K. Kvale |
author_sort |
H. Saini |
title |
Impact of iron fertilisation on atmospheric CO 2 during the last glaciation |
title_short |
Impact of iron fertilisation on atmospheric CO 2 during the last glaciation |
title_full |
Impact of iron fertilisation on atmospheric CO 2 during the last glaciation |
title_fullStr |
Impact of iron fertilisation on atmospheric CO 2 during the last glaciation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impact of iron fertilisation on atmospheric CO 2 during the last glaciation |
title_sort |
impact of iron fertilisation on atmospheric co 2 during the last glaciation |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1559-2023 https://doaj.org/article/4b569698ce294e0190ba9702fd54884d |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Climate of the Past, Vol 19, Pp 1559-1584 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/19/1559/2023/cp-19-1559-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9324 https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9332 doi:10.5194/cp-19-1559-2023 1814-9324 1814-9332 https://doaj.org/article/4b569698ce294e0190ba9702fd54884d |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1559-2023 |
container_title |
Climate of the Past |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
1559 |
op_container_end_page |
1584 |
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1774713062434013184 |