Two-phase change in CO2, Antarctic temperature and global climate during Termination II

• Published in: Nature Geoscience
• Main Authors: Landais, A., Dreyfus, G., Capron, E., Jouzel, J, Masson-Delmotte, V., Roche, D.M.V.A.P., Prie, F, Caillon, N.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action; name=SDG 13 - Climate Action; /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_below_water; name=SDG 14 - Life Below Water; Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica; EPICA; ice core
• Online Access: https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/fdc94516-438b-401b-b41e-6647d9f2dc54; https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO1985; https://hdl.handle.net/1871.1/fdc94516-438b-401b-b41e-6647d9f2dc54

The end of the Last Glacial Maximum (Termination I), roughly 20 thousand years ago (ka), was marked by cooling in the Northern Hemisphere, a weakening of the Asian monsoon, a rise in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations and warming over Antarctica. The sequence of events associated with the previous glacial-interglacial transition (Termination II), roughly 136 ka, is less well constrained. Here we present high-resolution records of atmospheric CO 2 concentrations and isotopic composition of N 2 - an atmospheric temperature proxy - from air bubbles in the EPICA Dome C ice core that span Termination II. We find that atmospheric CO 2 concentrations and Antarctic temperature started increasing in phase around 136 ka, but in a second phase of Termination II, from 130.5 to 129 ka, the rise in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations lagged that of Antarctic temperature unequivocally. We suggest that during this second phase, the intensification of the low-latitude hydrological cycle resulted in the development of a CO 2 sink, which counteracted the CO 2 outgassing from the Southern Hemisphere oceans over this period. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited.