Ice Core Records of Atmospheric CO 2 Around the Last Three Glacial Terminations

Hubertus Fischer; M. Wahlen; Jesse Smith; D. Mastroianni; B. Deck

doi:10.1126/science.283.5408.1712

Abstract

Air trapped in bubbles in polar ice cores constitutes an archive for the reconstruction of the global carbon cycle and the relation between greenhouse gases and climate in the past. High-resolution records from Antarctic ice cores show that carbon dioxide concentrations increased by 80 to 100 parts per million by volume 600 ± 400 years after the warming of the last three deglaciations. Despite strongly decreasing temperatures, high carbon dioxide concentrations can be sustained for thousands of years during glaciations; the size of this phase lag is probably connected to the duration of the preceding warm period, which controls the change in land ice coverage and the buildup of the terrestrial biosphere.

Keywords

Ice coreCarbon dioxideEnvironmental scienceBiosphereGlacial periodCarbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphereAtmospheric sciencesGreenhouse gasCarbon cycleClimate changePaleoclimatologyClimatologyPhysical geographyGeologyOceanographyGeographyChemistryEcosystemPaleontology

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Publication Info

Year: 1999
Type: article
Volume: 283
Issue: 5408
Pages: 1712-1714
Citations: 277
Access: Closed

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APA Style

                            
                                
                                    Hubertus Fischer, 
                                
                                    M. Wahlen, 
                                
                                    Jesse Smith
                                
                                et al.
                            
                            (1999). 
                            Ice Core Records of Atmospheric CO <sub>2</sub> Around the Last Three Glacial Terminations. 
                            Science
                            , 283
                            (5408)
                            , 1712-1714.
                            https://doi.org/10.1126/science.283.5408.1712
                        

Identifiers

DOI: 10.1126/science.283.5408.1712