Radiocarbon evidence for alternating northern and southern sources of ventilation of the deep Atlantic carbon pool during the last deglaciation

This study sheds light on the mechanisms of deglacial atmospheric CO2 rise and, more specifically, on the hypothesized role of a “bipolar seesaw” in deep Atlantic ventilation. Comparing new high-resolution radiocarbon reconstructions from the Northeast Atlantic with existing data from the Southern O...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Main Authors: Skinner, Luke C., Waelbroeck, Claire, Scrivner, Adam E., Fallon, Stewart J.
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: National Academy of Sciences 2014
Subjects:
Physical Sciences
Southern Ocean
North Atlantic Deep Water
North Atlantic
Northeast Atlantic
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3992695
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24706801
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1400668111
Description
Summary:This study sheds light on the mechanisms of deglacial atmospheric CO2 rise and, more specifically, on the hypothesized role of a “bipolar seesaw” in deep Atlantic ventilation. Comparing new high-resolution radiocarbon reconstructions from the Northeast Atlantic with existing data from the Southern Ocean, we show that a bipolar ventilation seesaw did indeed operate during the last deglaciation. Whereas today the deep Atlantic’s carbon pool is “flushed” from the north by North Atlantic Deep Water export, it was flushed instead from the south during Heinrich Stadial 1 and the Younger Dryas, in time with sustained atmospheric CO2 rise.

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