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Impact of strong deep ocean stratification on the glacial carbon cycle
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, IPSL, CEA, UVSQ, CNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, IPSL, CEA, UVSQ, CNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, IPSL, CEA, UVSQ, CNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
During the Last Glacial Maximum, the climate was substantially colder and the carbon cycle was clearly different from the late Holocene. According to proxy data deep oceanic δ 13C was very low, and the atmospheric CO2 concentration also reduced. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain these changes, but none can fully explain the data, especially the very low deep ocean δ 13C values. Oceanic core data show that the deep ocean was very cold and salty, which would lead to enhanced deep ocean stratification. We show that such an enhanced stratification in the coupled climate model CLIMBER-2 helps get very low deep oceanic δ 13C values. Indeed the simulated δ 13C reaches values as low as −0.8‰ in line with proxy data evidences. Moreover it increases the oceanic carbon reservoir leading to a small, yet robust, atmospheric CO2 drop of approximately 10 ppm.
Received 9 October 2008; accepted 9 June 2009; published 8 August 2009.
Citation: (2009), Impact of strong deep ocean stratification on the glacial carbon cycle, Paleoceanography, 24, PA3203, doi:10.1029/2008PA001707.
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