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Holocene carbon-cycle dynamics based on CO2 trapped in ice at Taylor Dome, Antarctica

Nature volume 398, pages 121–126 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

A high-resolution ice-core record of atmospheric CO2 concentration over the Holocene epoch shows that the global carbon cycle has not been in steady state during the past 11,000 years. Analysis of the CO2 concentration and carbon stable-isotope records, using a one-dimensional carbon-cycle model,uggests that changes in terrestrial biomass and sea surface temperature were largely responsible for the observed millennial-scale changes of atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

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Figure 1: Mean CO2 concentrations from ice cores.
Figure 2: CO2 concentrations and stable-isotope ratios, Taylor Dome.
Figure 3: Comparison of our hypotheses.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Palais, P. Grootes, T. Crowley, S. Björck, P. Clark, G. Esser, R. J. Francey, D. Jolly and E. Waddington for support; E. Brook, P. Grootes, C. Sucher and E. Steig for sharing data; the US NSF for permitting us to analyse the samples and G. Hargreaves (NICL) for preserving them from melting. We thank J.-M. Barnola, M. Leuenberger and O. Marchal for discussions. This work was supported by the US NSF OPP, the Swiss NSF, EPRI, BBW and BEW.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012, Bern, Switzerland

    A. Indermühle, T. F. Stocker, F. Joos, J. Tschumi, T. Blunier, R. Meyer & B. Stauffer

  2. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, 92093-0220, California , USA

    H. Fischer, H. J. Smith, M. Wahlen, B. Deck & D. Mastroianni

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Correspondence to T. F. Stocker.

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Indermühle, A., Stocker, T., Joos, F. et al. Holocene carbon-cycle dynamics based on CO2 trapped in ice at Taylor Dome, Antarctica. Nature 398, 121–126 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/18158

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