CO2 concentration and stable isotope ratios of three Antarctic ice cores covering the period from 149.4 - 1.5 kyr before 1950

DOI

We present new d13C measurements of atmospheric CO2 covering the last glacial/interglacial cycle, complementing previous records covering Terminations I and II. Most prominent in the new record is a significant depletion in d13C(atm) of 0.5 permil occurring during marine isotope stage (MIS) 4, followed by an enrichment of the same magnitude at the beginning of MIS 3. Such a significant excursion in the record is otherwise only observed at glacial terminations, suggesting that similar processes were at play, such as changing sea surface temperatures, changes in marine biological export in the Southern Ocean (SO) due to variations in aeolian iron fluxes, changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, upwelling of deep water in the SO, and long-term trends in terrestrial carbon storage. Based on previous modeling studies, we propose constraints on some of these processes during specific time intervals. The decrease in d13C(atm) at the end of MIS 4 starting approximately 64 kyr B.P. was accompanied by increasing [CO2]. This period is also marked by a decrease in aeolian iron flux to the SO, followed by an increase in SO upwelling during Heinrich event 6, indicating that it is likely that a large amount of d13C-depleted carbon was transferred to the deep oceans previously, i.e., at the onset of MIS 4. Apart from the upwelling event at the end of MIS 4 (and potentially smaller events during Heinrich events in MIS 3), upwelling of deep water in the SO remained reduced until the last glacial termination, whereupon a second pulse of isotopically light carbon was released into the atmosphere.

These data complement previously published d13CO2 datasets: * Schmitt, J et al. (2012): Measurements of stable carbon isotope ratios of CO2 over the last 24000 years and CO2 concentration measurements on Antarctic ice cores using three different methods. doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.772713. * Schneider, R et al. (2013): A reconstruction of atmospheric carbon dioxide and its stable carbon isotopic composition from the penultimate glacial maximum to the glacial inception. doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.817041. The CO2 concentration and stable isotope data were measured on the following three Antarctic ice cores covering the period from 149.4 - 1.5 kyr before 1950: European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) Dome C (EDC) (lat = -75.10, lon = 123.40) EPICA Dronning Maud Land (EDML) (lat = -75.00, lon = 0.07) Talos Dome (lat = -72.82, lon = 159.18)

Supplement to: Eggleston, Sarah; Schmitt, Jochen; Bereiter, Bernhard; Schneider, Robert; Fischer, Hubertus (2016): Evolution of the stable carbon isotope composition of atmospheric CO2 over the last glacial cycle. Paleoceanography, 31, n/a-n/a

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.859181
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.1002/2015PA002874
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1715-2013
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1204069109
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2010.06.023
Related Identifier https://swisscovery.slsp.ch/discovery/search?query=lds02,contains,(IDSBB)006061992DSV01&tab=41SLSP_NETWORK&search_scope=DN_and_CI&vid=41SLSP_NETWORK:VU1_UNION
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1733-2013
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.859181
Provenance
Creator Eggleston, Sarah ORCID logo; Schmitt, Jochen ORCID logo; Bereiter, Bernhard; Schneider, Robert; Fischer, Hubertus ORCID logo
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2016
Funding Reference Fifth Framework Programme https://doi.org/10.13039/100011104 Crossref Funder ID EVK2-CT-2000-00077 https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/EVK2-CT-2000-00077 European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica; Fourth Framework Programme https://doi.org/10.13039/100011105 Crossref Funder ID ENV4980702 https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/ENV4980702 European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica; Seventh Framework Programme https://doi.org/10.13039/100011102 Crossref Funder ID 331615 https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/331615 Talos Dome Ice Core
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Resource Type Supplementary Publication Series of Datasets; Collection
Format application/zip
Size 3 datasets
Discipline Earth System Research