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Marine biological controls on atmospheric CO2 and climate

Abstract

It is argued here that the concentration of fixed nitrogen in the ocean is not in steady state, that the ocean gains N during times of glacial advance, losing it when glaciers recede. The abundance of atmospheric CO2 responds to changes in marine biological productivity, and it is proposed that climatically significant fluctuations in CO2 on time scales of 103–104 yr are controlled mainly by variations in oceanic N.

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McElroy, M. Marine biological controls on atmospheric CO2 and climate. Nature 302, 328–329 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/302328a0

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