Thomas Blunier

High-resolution carbon dioxide concentration record 650,000-800,000 years before present

Changes in past atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations can be determined by measuring the composition of air trapped in ice cores from Antarctica. So far, the Antarctic Vostok and EPICA Dome C ice cores have provided a composite record of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels over the past 650,000u2009years. Here we present results of the lowest 200u2009m of the Dome C ice core, extending the record of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration by two complete glacial cycles to 800,000u2009yr before present. From previously published data and the present work, we find that atmospheric carbon dioxide is strongly correlated with Antarctic temperature throughout eight glacial cycles but with significantly lower concentrations between 650,000 and 750,000u2009yr before present. Carbon dioxide levels are below 180u2009parts per million by volume (p.p.m.v.) for a period of 3,000u2009yr during Marine Isotope Stage 16, possibly reflecting more pronounced oceanic carbon storage. We report the lowest carbon dioxide concentration measured in an ice core, which extends the pre-industrial range of carbon dioxide concentrations during the late Quaternary by about 10u2009p.p.m.v. to 172–300u2009p.p.m.v.

One-to-one coupling of glacial climate variability in Greenland and Antarctica.

Precise knowledge of the phase relationship between climate changes in the two hemispheres is a key for understanding the Earth’s climate dynamics. For the last glacial period, ice core studies have revealed strong coupling of the largest millennial-scale warm events in Antarctica with the longest Dansgaard–Oeschger events in Greenland through the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. It has been unclear, however, whether the shorter Dansgaard–Oeschger events have counterparts in the shorter and less prominent Antarctic temperature variations, and whether these events are linked by the same mechanism. Here we present a glacial climate record derived from an ice core from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, which represents South Atlantic climate at a resolution comparable with the Greenland ice core records. After methane synchronization with an ice core from North Greenland, the oxygen isotope record from the Dronning Maud Land ice core shows a one-to-one coupling between all Antarctic warm events and Greenland Dansgaard–Oeschger events by the bipolar seesaw6. The amplitude of the Antarctic warm events is found to be linearly dependent on the duration of the concurrent stadial in the North, suggesting that they all result from a similar reduction in the meridional overturning circulation.

Holocene carbon-cycle dynamics based on CO2 trapped in ice at Taylor Dome, Antarctica

A high-resolution ice-core record of atmospheric CO2 concentration over the Holocene epoch shows that the global carbon cycle has not been in steady state during the past 11,000 years. Analysis of the CO2 concentration and carbon stable-isotope records, using a one-dimensional carbon-cycle model,uggests that changes in terrestrial biomass and sea surface temperature were largely responsible for the observed millennial-scale changes of atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

Orbital and millennial-scale features of atmospheric CH4 over the past 800,000 years.

Atmospheric methane is an important greenhouse gas and a sensitive indicator of climate change and millennial-scale temperature variability. Its concentrations over the past 650,000u2009years have varied between ∼350 and ∼800 parts per 109 by volume (p.p.b.v.) during glacial and interglacial periods, respectively. In comparison, present-day methane levels of ∼1,770u2009p.p.b.v. have been reported. Insights into the external forcing factors and internal feedbacks controlling atmospheric methane are essential for predicting the methane budget in a warmer world. Here we present a detailed atmospheric methane record from the EPICA Dome C ice core that extends the history of this greenhouse gas to 800,000u2009yr before present. The average time resolution of the new data is ∼380u2009yr and permits the identification of orbital and millennial-scale features. Spectral analyses indicate that the long-term variability in atmospheric methane levels is dominated by ∼100,000u2009yr glacial–interglacial cycles up to ∼400,000u2009yr ago with an increasing contribution of the precessional component during the four more recent climatic cycles. We suggest that changes in the strength of tropical methane sources and sinks (wetlands, atmospheric oxidation), possibly influenced by changes in monsoon systems and the position of the intertropical convergence zone, controlled the atmospheric methane budget, with an additional source input during major terminations as the retreat of the northern ice sheet allowed higher methane emissions from extending periglacial wetlands. Millennial-scale changes in methane levels identified in our record as being associated with Antarctic isotope maxima events are indicative of ubiquitous millennial-scale temperature variability during the past eight glacial cycles.

Age scale of the air in the summit ice: Implication for glacial‐interglacial temperature change

The air occluded in ice sheets and glaciers has, in general, a younger age (defined as the time after its isolation from the atmosphere) than the surrounding ice matrix because snow is first transformed into open porous firn, in which the air can exchange with the atmosphere. Only at a certain depth (firn-ice transition) the pores are pinched off and the air is definitely isolated from the atmosphere. The firn-ice transition depth is at around 70 m under present climatic conditions at Summit, central Greenland. The air at this depth is roughly 10 years old due to diffusive mixing, whereas the ice is about 220 years old. This results in an age difference between the air and the ice of 210 years. This difference depends on temperature and accumulation rate and did thus not remain constant during the past. We used a dynamic firn densification model to calculate the firn-ice transition depth and the age of the ice at this depth and an air diffusion model to determine the age of the air at the transition. Past temperatures and accumulation rates have been deduced from the δ18O record using time independent functions. We present the results of model calculations of two paleotemperature scenarios yielding a record of the age difference between the air and the ice for the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) and the Greenland Ice Sheet Project Two (GISP2) ice cores for the last 100,000 years. During the Holocene, the age difference stayed rather stable around 200 years, while it reached values up to 1400 years during the last glaciation for the colder scenario. The model results are compared with age differences obtained independently by matching corresponding climate events in the methane and δ18O records assuming a very small phase lag between variations in the Greenland surface temperature and the atmospheric methane. The past firn-ice transition depths are compared with diffusive column heights obtained from δ15N of N2 measurements. The results of this study corroborate the large temperature change of 20 to 25 K from the coldest glacial to Holocene climate found by evaluating borehole temperature profiles.

Timing of the Antarctic cold reversal and the atmospheric CO2increase with respect to the Younger Dryas Event

The transition from the Last Glacial to the Holocene is a key period for understanding the mechanisms of global climate change. Ice cores from the large polar ice sheets provide a wealth of information with good time resolution for this period. However, interactions between the two hemispheres can only be investigated if ice core records from Greenland and Antarctica can be synchronised accurately and reliably. The atmospheric methane concentration shows large and very fast changes during this period. These variations are well suited for a synchronisation of the age scales of ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica. Here we confirm the proposed lead of the Antarctic Cold Reversal on the Younger Dryas cold event. The Antarctic cooling precedes the Younger Dryas by at least 1.8 kyr. This suggests that northern and southern hemispheres were in anti-phase during the Younger Dryas cold event. A further result of the synchronisation is that the long-term glacial-interglacial increase of atmospheric CO 2 was not interrupted during the Younger Dryas event and that atmospheric CO 2 changes are not necessarily dominated by changes in the North Atlantic circulation.

Changes in the atmospheric CH4 gradient between Greenland and Antarctica during the Last Glacial and the transition to the Holocene

Significant variations in the interpolar difference of atmospheric CH4 concentration over the Holocene period were observed by Chappellaz et al., [1997]. Here we extend this study to the Last Glacial and the transition to the Holocene. We observe a gradient of −3±4 parts per billion by volume (ppbv) during the Last Glacial Maximum. It increases to 26±10 ppbv during the Bolling/Allerod and remains at 26±9 ppbv during the Younger Dryas cold period. On average, we find an interpolar difference of 14±4 ppbv during the cold phases and of 37±10 ppbv during the warm periods of the Last Glacial. With a three-box model we derive from the measured gradients the contributions of methane from the Tropics and the mid-to-high latitudes of the northern hemisphere. The Tropics have been the largest source in all glacial epochs. The contribution by the northern latitudes have been very small during the last glacial maximum but surprisingly large during the earlier part of the glacial epoch. The model result suggests completely unexpected, that the higher atmospheric CH4 concentration during the warm Dansgaard/Oeschger events are caused by a higher source strength of the northern latitudes and not of the Tropics.

N2O and CH4 variations during the last glacial epoch: Insight into global processes

[1]xa0Greenhouse gas measurements along polar ice cores provide important insight into the former composition of the atmosphere, its natural variations, and the responses to fast climatic changes in the past. We present high-resolution nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) records measured along two ice cores from central Greenland covering part of Marine Isotope Stages 3 and 4 in the last glacial epoch. The N2O data confirm the hypothesis that N2O shows variations in phase to fast climatic changes observed in the Northern Hemisphere, the so-called Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) events. Variations exist not only for events with a long duration (1500 years and more) but also for the shorter ones. The comparison with CH4 unveils interesting differences between the response of CH4 and N2O to D-O events. While the average amplitudes of CH4 oscillations associated with D-O events are similar to those of the Northern Hemisphere summer insolation, the magnitude of the N2O concentration change instead correlates with the duration of the D-O events. The records give further insight into the timing of concentration changes at the beginning of D-O events. They show that for long-lasting events the N2O concentration starts to increase before both the sharp increase in the CH4 concentration and the temperature reconstructed for Greenland.

Atmospheric CO2 concentration and millennial-scale climate change during the last glacial period

The analysis of air bubbles trapped in polar ice has permitted the reconstruction of past atmospheric concentrations of CO2 over various timescales, and revealed that large climate changes over tens of thousands of years are generally accompanied by changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations. But the extent to which such covariations occur for fast, millennial-scale climate shifts, such as the Dansgaard–Oeschger events recorded in Greenland ice cores during the last glacial period, is unresolved; CO2 data from Greenland and Antarctic ice cores have been conflicting in this regard. More recent work suggests that Antarctic ice should provide a more reliable CO2 record, as the higher dust content of Greenland ice can give rise to artefacts,,. To compare the rapid climate changes recorded in the Greenland ice with the global trends in atmospheric CO2 concentrations as recorded in the Antarctic ice, an accurate common timescale is needed. Here we provide such a timescale for the last glacial period using the records of global atmospheric methane concentrations from both Greenland and Antarctic ice. We find that the atmospheric concentration of CO2 generally varied little with Dansgaard–Oeschger events (<10 parts per million by volume, p.p.m.v.) but varied significantly with Heinrich iceberg-discharge events (∼20u2009p.p.m.v.), especially those starting with a long-lasting Dansgaard–Oeschger event.

Biological oxygen productivity during the last 60,000 years from triple oxygen isotope measurements

during isotope exchange between O2 and CO2 in the stratosphere. The relative rates of biologic O2 production and stratospheric processing determine the relationship between d 17 O and d 18 Oo f O2 in the atmosphere. Variations of this relationship thus allow us to estimate changes in the rate of mass-dependent O2 production by photosynthesis versus the rate of O2-CO2 exchange in the stratosphere with about equal fractionations of d 17 O and d 18 O. In this study we reconstruct total oxygen productivity for the last glacial, the last glacial termination, and the early Holocene from the triple isotope composition of atmospheric oxygen trapped in ice cores. With a box model we estimate that total biogenic productivity was only � 76–83% of today for the glacial and was probably lower than today during the glacial-interglacial transition and the early Holocene. Depending on how reduced the oxygen flux from the land biosphere was during the glacial, the oxygen flux from the glacial ocean biosphere was 88–140% of its present value. INDEX TERMS: 3344 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Paleoclimatology; 4870 Oceanography: Biological and Chemical: Stable isotopes; 1615 Global Change: Biogeochemical processes (4805); 0315 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Biosphere/atmosphere interactions; KEYWORDS: GISP2, SIPLE ice cores, oxygen isotopes, past oxygen productivity, stratospheric isotope exchange, respiration