Deglacial Subantarctic CO(2) outgassing driven by a weakened solubility pump
The Subantarctic Southern Ocean has long been thought to be an important contributor to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO(2)) during glacial-interglacial transitions. Extensive studies suggest that a weakened biological pump, a process associated with nutrient utilization...
| Published in: | Nature Communications |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Publishing Group UK
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9440897/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36057689 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32895-9 |
| Summary: | The Subantarctic Southern Ocean has long been thought to be an important contributor to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO(2)) during glacial-interglacial transitions. Extensive studies suggest that a weakened biological pump, a process associated with nutrient utilization efficiency, drove up surface-water pCO(2) in this region during deglaciations. By contrast, regional influences of the solubility pump, a process mainly linked to temperature variations, have been largely overlooked. Here, we evaluate relative roles of the biological and solubility pumps in determining surface-water pCO(2) variabilities in the Subantarctic Southern Ocean during the last deglaciation, based on paired reconstructions of surface-water pCO(2), temperature, and nutrient utilization efficiency. We show that compared to the biological pump, the solubility pump imposed a strong impact on deglacial Subantarctic surface-water pCO(2) variabilities. Our findings therefore reveal a previously underappreciated role of the solubility pump in modulating deglacial Subantarctic CO(2) release and possibly past atmospheric pCO(2) fluctuations. |
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