A permafrost glacial hypothesis: Permafrost carbon might help explaining the Pleistocene ice ages
Over the past several ~100 ka glacial-interglacial cycles, the concentration of atmospheric CO2 was closely coupled to global temperature, which indicates the importance of CO2 as a greenhouse gas. The reasons for changes in atmospheric CO2 have mainly been sought in the ocean, but remain elusive. M...
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ftethz:oai:www.research-collection.ethz.ch:20.500.11850/60345 2023-08-20T04:07:06+02:00 A permafrost glacial hypothesis: Permafrost carbon might help explaining the Pleistocene ice ages Zech, Roland 2011 application/application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/60345 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000060345 en eng Copernicus info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3285/eg.61.1.07 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/60345 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000060345 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Eiszeitalter und Gegenwart, 61 (1) Pleistocene ice ages Milankovitch insolation forcing permafrost Siberia info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2011 ftethz https://doi.org/20.500.11850/6034510.3929/ethz-b-00006034510.3285/eg.61.1.07 2023-07-30T23:55:33Z Over the past several ~100 ka glacial-interglacial cycles, the concentration of atmospheric CO2 was closely coupled to global temperature, which indicates the importance of CO2 as a greenhouse gas. The reasons for changes in atmospheric CO2 have mainly been sought in the ocean, but remain elusive. Moreover, the mid-Pleistocene transition from the ‘41 ka world’ during the early Pleistocene before ~0.7 Ma to the ~100 ka ice age cycles is poorly understood. The classical Milankovitch theory of summer insolation forcing at high northern latitudes can not fully explain the Pleistocene ice age rhythm. Based on the recent findings that the amount of soil organic carbon stored in high-latitude permafrost regions has been greatly underestimated and the simple logic that permafrost regions and respective carbon pools were likely much larger during gla cials than during interglacials, a ‘permafrost glacial hypothesis’ is proposed: (i) Gradual sequestration of CO2 in permafrost soils during coolings and rapid release of CO2 and methane during terminations, respectively, provide important positive feedbacks for the climate. (ii) Integrated annual insolation at the southern and thus most sensitive permafrost boundary may act as a trig ger for global climate changes. (iii) The mid-Pleistocene transition might be readily explained with permafrost extents reaching ~45°N during the long-term Pleistocene cooling, resulting in a transition from high-latitude obliquity (~41 ka) to mid-latitude eccentricity (~100 ka) forcing. ISSN:0424-7116 Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice permafrost Siberia ETH Zürich Research Collection |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
ETH Zürich Research Collection |
op_collection_id |
ftethz |
language |
English |
topic |
Pleistocene ice ages Milankovitch insolation forcing permafrost Siberia |
spellingShingle |
Pleistocene ice ages Milankovitch insolation forcing permafrost Siberia Zech, Roland A permafrost glacial hypothesis: Permafrost carbon might help explaining the Pleistocene ice ages |
topic_facet |
Pleistocene ice ages Milankovitch insolation forcing permafrost Siberia |
description |
Over the past several ~100 ka glacial-interglacial cycles, the concentration of atmospheric CO2 was closely coupled to global temperature, which indicates the importance of CO2 as a greenhouse gas. The reasons for changes in atmospheric CO2 have mainly been sought in the ocean, but remain elusive. Moreover, the mid-Pleistocene transition from the ‘41 ka world’ during the early Pleistocene before ~0.7 Ma to the ~100 ka ice age cycles is poorly understood. The classical Milankovitch theory of summer insolation forcing at high northern latitudes can not fully explain the Pleistocene ice age rhythm. Based on the recent findings that the amount of soil organic carbon stored in high-latitude permafrost regions has been greatly underestimated and the simple logic that permafrost regions and respective carbon pools were likely much larger during gla cials than during interglacials, a ‘permafrost glacial hypothesis’ is proposed: (i) Gradual sequestration of CO2 in permafrost soils during coolings and rapid release of CO2 and methane during terminations, respectively, provide important positive feedbacks for the climate. (ii) Integrated annual insolation at the southern and thus most sensitive permafrost boundary may act as a trig ger for global climate changes. (iii) The mid-Pleistocene transition might be readily explained with permafrost extents reaching ~45°N during the long-term Pleistocene cooling, resulting in a transition from high-latitude obliquity (~41 ka) to mid-latitude eccentricity (~100 ka) forcing. ISSN:0424-7116 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zech, Roland |
author_facet |
Zech, Roland |
author_sort |
Zech, Roland |
title |
A permafrost glacial hypothesis: Permafrost carbon might help explaining the Pleistocene ice ages |
title_short |
A permafrost glacial hypothesis: Permafrost carbon might help explaining the Pleistocene ice ages |
title_full |
A permafrost glacial hypothesis: Permafrost carbon might help explaining the Pleistocene ice ages |
title_fullStr |
A permafrost glacial hypothesis: Permafrost carbon might help explaining the Pleistocene ice ages |
title_full_unstemmed |
A permafrost glacial hypothesis: Permafrost carbon might help explaining the Pleistocene ice ages |
title_sort |
permafrost glacial hypothesis: permafrost carbon might help explaining the pleistocene ice ages |
publisher |
Copernicus |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/60345 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000060345 |
genre |
Ice permafrost Siberia |
genre_facet |
Ice permafrost Siberia |
op_source |
Eiszeitalter und Gegenwart, 61 (1) |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3285/eg.61.1.07 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/60345 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000060345 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11850/6034510.3929/ethz-b-00006034510.3285/eg.61.1.07 |
_version_ |
1774718549247393792 |