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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 35, L01701, doi:10.1029/2007GL032071, 2008

Glacial cycles and carbon dioxide: A conceptual model

Andrew McC. Hogg

Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

Abstract

The correlation between Antarctic temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is a key feature of Quaternary climate cycles. The cycle is characterised by pronounced temporal asymmetry; with rapid increase in both temperature and CO₂ at the glacial termination. Here I compare observed climate cycles with results from a simple model which predicts the evolution of global temperature and carbon dioxide over the glacial-interglacial cycle. The model includes a term which parameterises deep ocean release of CO₂ in response to warming, and thereby amplifies the glacial cycle. In this model, temperature rises lead CO₂ increases at the glacial termination, but it is the feedback between these two quantities that drives the abrupt warming during the transition from glacial to interglacial periods.

Received 18 September 2007; accepted 23 November 2007; published 1 January 2008.

Keywords: glacial cycle; carbon cycle.

Index Terms: 1616 Global Change: Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513); 1605 Global Change: Abrupt/rapid climate change (4901, 8408); 1620 Global Change: Climate dynamics (0429, 3309); 1621 Global Change: Cryospheric change (0776); 1635 Global Change: Oceans (1616, 3305, 4215, 4513).

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Citation: Hogg, A. McC. (2008), Glacial cycles and carbon dioxide: A conceptual model, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L01701, doi:10.1029/2007GL032071.

Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.