Stable Carbon Cycle–Climate Relationship During the Late Pleistocene

Urs Siegenthaler (1) , Thomas F. Stocker (1) , Eric Monnin (1) , Dieter Lüthi (1) , Jakob Schwander (1) , Bernard Stauffer (1) , Dominique Raynaud (2) , Jean-Marc Barnola (2) , Hubertus Fischer (3) , Valérie Masson-Delmotte (4, 5) , Jean Jouzel (4, 5)

1 CEP - Climate and Environmental Physics [Bern]
2 LGGE - Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement
3 Abteilung Klinische Sozialmedizin, Berufs- und Umweltdermatologie
4 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
5 GLACCIOS - Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables

A record of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations measured on the EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) Dome Concordia ice core extends the Vostok CO2 record back to 650,000 years before the present (yr B.P.). Before 430,000 yr B.P., partial pressure of atmospheric CO2 lies within the range of 260 and 180 parts per million by volume. This range is almost 30% smaller than that of the last four glacial cycles; however, the apparent sensitivity between deuterium and CO2 remains stable throughout the six glacial cycles, suggesting that the relationship between CO2 and Antarctic climate remained rather constant over this interval.

Domains: Ocean, Atmosphere

Urs Siegenthaler, Thomas F. Stocker, Eric Monnin, Dieter Lüthi, Jakob Schwander, et al.. Stable Carbon Cycle–Climate Relationship During the Late Pleistocene. Science, 2005, 310 (5752), pp.1313 à 1317. ⟨10.1126/science.1120130⟩. ⟨insu-00374945⟩