Southern Ocean drives multidecadal atmospheric CO2 rise during Heinrich Stadials.

Wendt, Kathleen A; Nehrbass-Ahles, Christoph; Niezgoda, Kyle; Noone, David; Kalk, Michael; Menviel, Laurie; Gottschalk, Julia; Rae, James W B; Schmitt, Jochen; Fischer, Hubertus; Stocker, Thomas F; Muglia, Juan; Ferreira, David; Marcott, Shaun A; Brook, Edward; Buizert, Christo (2024). Southern Ocean drives multidecadal atmospheric CO2 rise during Heinrich Stadials. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America - PNAS, 121(21) National Academy of Sciences 10.1073/pnas.2319652121

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The last glacial period was punctuated by cold intervals in the North Atlantic region that culminated in extensive iceberg discharge events. These cold intervals, known as Heinrich Stadials, are associated with abrupt climate shifts worldwide. Here, we present CO2 measurements from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide ice core across Heinrich Stadials 2 to 5 at decadal-scale resolution. Our results reveal multi-decadal-scale jumps in atmospheric CO2 concentrations within each Heinrich Stadial. The largest magnitude of change (14.0 ± 0.8 ppm within 55 ± 10 y) occurred during Heinrich Stadial 4. Abrupt rises in atmospheric CO2 are concurrent with jumps in atmospheric CH4 and abrupt changes in the water isotopologs in multiple Antarctic ice cores, the latter of which suggest rapid warming of both Antarctica and Southern Ocean vapor source regions. The synchroneity of these rapid shifts points to wind-driven upwelling of relatively warm, carbon-rich waters in the Southern Ocean, likely linked to a poleward intensification of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds. Using an isotope-enabled atmospheric circulation model, we show that observed changes in Antarctic water isotopologs can be explained by abrupt and widespread Southern Ocean warming. Our work presents evidence for a multi-decadal- to century-scale response of the Southern Ocean to changes in atmospheric circulation, demonstrating the potential for dynamic changes in Southern Ocean biogeochemistry and circulation on human timescales. Furthermore, it suggests that anthropogenic CO2 uptake in the Southern Ocean may weaken with poleward strengthening westerlies today and into the future.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute > Climate and Environmental Physics
10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)
08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute

UniBE Contributor:

Nehrbass-Ahles, Christoph, Schmitt, Jochen, Fischer, Hubertus, Stocker, Thomas

Subjects:

500 Science > 530 Physics
500 Science > 550 Earth sciences & geology
000 Computer science, knowledge & systems

ISSN:

1091-6490

Publisher:

National Academy of Sciences

Language:

English

Submitter:

Pubmed Import

Date Deposited:

14 May 2024 08:16

Last Modified:

15 May 2024 04:08

Publisher DOI:

10.1073/pnas.2319652121

PubMed ID:

38739805

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Heinrich Stadials carbon cycle carbon dioxide ice core paleoclimate

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/196742

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/196742

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