Organic carbon buried under the great ice sheets of
the Northern Hemisphere is suggested to be the missing link in the atmospheric
CO2 change over the glacial-interglacial cycles. At glaciation, the
advancement of continental ice sheets buries vegetation and soil carbon
accumulated during warmer periods. At deglaciation, this burial carbon is
released back into the atmosphere. In a simulation over two
glacial-interglacial cycles using a synchronously coupled atmosphere-land-ocean
carbon model forced by reconstructed climate change, I found a 547 Gt
terrestrial carbon release from glacial maximum to interglacial, resulting in a
60 Gt (about 30 ppmv) increase in the atmospheric CO2, with the
remainder absorbed by the ocean in a scenario in which ocean acts as a passive
buffer. This is in contrast to previous estimates of a land uptake at deglaciation.
This carbon source originates from glacial burial, continental shelf and other
land areas in response to changes in ice cover, sea level, and climate. The
input of light isotope enriched terrestrial carbon causes atmospheric Δ13C to drop by about 0.3permil at deglaciation,
followed by rapid rise towards a high interglacial value in response to oceanic
warming and regrowth on land. Together with other ocean based mechanisms such
as change in ocean temperature, the glacial burial hypothesis may offer a full
explanation of the observed 80-100 ppmv atmospheric CO2 change.
Author: N. Zeng
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