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  • Review Article
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Southern Ocean glacial conditions and their influence on deglacial events

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 4, pages 454–470 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

The Southern Ocean is an important regulator of global CO2 levels and likely had a key role in lowering atmospheric CO2 levels during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and driving the subsequent increase during the following deglaciation. Nonetheless, debate continues surrounding the relative importance of Northern versus Southern Hemisphere forcing during deglacial events. In this Review, we compare modern Southern Ocean conditions with those in the LGM and deglacial period, identifying factors that were critical in initiating the glacial termination. During the LGM, North Atlantic sourced waters appear to have shoaled and were largely absent from the glacial Southern Ocean. Increased ocean stratification, shoaling of the chemical divide and increased nutrient utilization at the surface contributed to glacial carbon sequestration in deep waters. Warming at mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere and the Southern Ocean began at ~21 ka, preceding deglaciation, indicating insolation changes could have driven early atmosphere–ocean warming that initiated the shifting of ocean fronts leading to the release of carbon sequestered in the LGM. Southern Ocean dynamics appear to have been substantial, or even the critical, factors initiating the termination of the LGM before deepening of North Atlantic sourced waters. Future research should focus on better resolving deglacial chemical and physical changes in Southern Ocean waters and their representation in numerical models.

Key points

  • The Southern Ocean is where the major deep-water masses of oceans rise to the surface, mingle, modify and re-form, making it the nexus of global ocean interactions. Air–sea exchange of CO2 in the Southern Ocean is a key control on atmospheric CO2 concentrations, the marine carbon cycle and climate.

  • During the Last Glacial Maximum (20–26 ka), North Atlantic sourced waters were largely absent from the glacial Southern Ocean. The likely cause of this is shoaling of North Atlantic Deep Waters to intermediate depths.

  • The northern glacial Southern Ocean had a shallower and more intense geochemical divide than modern-day Southern Ocean. Increased ocean stratification, shoaling of the chemical divide and increased nutrient utilization at the surface contributed to glacial carbon sequestration in deep waters.

  • Breakdown of the intensified geochemical divide and ventilation occurred early in the deglaciation, preceding the reintroduction of northern-sourced waters to the Southern Ocean.

  • Shifts in Southern Hemisphere winds, frontal movements and orbital forcing could have driven these changes in Southern Ocean dynamics, triggering the release of carbon sequestered during the Last Glacial Maximum and increasing atmospheric CO2 at the beginning of the deglaciation (~18-11 ka), affecting global climate.

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Fig. 1: Global Meridional Overturning Circulation.
Fig. 2: Southern Ocean overturning circulation.
Fig. 3: Vertical profiles of sedimentary δ13C in the Atlantic and Pacific.
Fig. 4: Surface front and deep geochemical divide variations from Glacial-to-Holocene conditions.
Fig. 5: Deglacial time series.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank L. Menviel and K. Meissner for their comments and suggestions on earlier drafts that substantially improved the manuscript. The authors also thank their Rutgers co-workers E. Hunter and R. Glaubke for drafting several figures. T.J.W. was supported by the Australian Research Council Special Research Initiative, Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (Project Number SR200100008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Elisabeth L. Sikes & Natalie E. Umling

  2. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA

    Natalie E. Umling

  3. School of Earth and Climate Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA

    Katherine A. Allen

  4. Department of Earth Science, Bjerknes Center for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Ulysses S. Ninnemann

  5. Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI, USA

    Rebecca S. Robinson

  6. Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Joellen L. Russell

  7. Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia

    Thomas J. Williams

  8. The Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia

    Thomas J. Williams

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Contributions

E.L.S., N.E.U., R.S.R. and K.A.A. researched data for the article. E.L.S. wrote the article. All authors contributed substantially to discussion of the content and reviewed and/or edited the manuscript before submission.

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Sikes, E.L., Umling, N.E., Allen, K.A. et al. Southern Ocean glacial conditions and their influence on deglacial events. Nat Rev Earth Environ 4, 454–470 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00436-7

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