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Large inert carbon pool in the terrestrial biosphere during the Last Glacial Maximum

Nature Geoscience volume 5, pages 74–79 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

During each of the late Pleistocene glacial–interglacial transitions, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations rose by almost 100 ppm. The sources of this carbon are unclear, and efforts to identify them are hampered by uncertainties in the magnitude of carbon reservoirs and fluxes under glacial conditions. Here we use oxygen isotope measurements from air trapped in ice cores and ocean carbon-cycle modelling to estimate terrestrial and oceanic gross primary productivity during the Last Glacial Maximum. We find that the rate of gross terrestrial primary production during the Last Glacial Maximum was about 40±10 Pg C yr−1, half that of the pre-industrial Holocene. Despite the low levels of photosynthesis, we estimate that the late glacial terrestrial biosphere contained only 330 Pg less carbon than pre-industrial levels. We infer that the area covered by carbon-rich but unproductive biomes such as tundra and cold steppes was significantly larger during the Last Glacial Maximum, consistent with palaeoecological data. Our data also indicate the presence of an inert carbon pool of 2,300 Pg C, about 700 Pg larger than the inert carbon locked in permafrost today. We suggest that the disappearance of this carbon pool at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum may have contributed to the deglacial rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.

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Figure 1: Overview of observations and model results used to constrain during the LGM, global estimates of terrestrial photosynthesis, and of marine and terrestrial carbon stocks.
Figure 2: Relationship defining terrestrial photosynthesis (G P PTER) as a function of the 18O isotopic enrichment of land oxygen fluxes, or land Dole effect, D ETER.
Figure 3: Ocean and land carbon stocks inferred from carbon isotopes for the PRE and LGM.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank J-C. Duplessy for his comments on an early version of the manuscript, and M. H. Woillez for initial discussions about LGM carbon stocks. The PMIP2/MOTIF Data Archive is supported by CEA, CNRS, the EU project MOTIF (EVK2-CT-2002-00153) and the Programme National d’Etude de la Dynamique du Climat (PNEDC). The analyses were carried out using version 08-01-2009 of the database. More information is available at http://pmip2.lsce.ipsl.fr/ and http://motif.lsce.ipsl.fr/.

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Author notes

  1. A. Tagliabue

    Present address: Present address: Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observatory, CSIR, PO Box 320, Stellenbosch, 7599, South Africa,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, CE Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France

    P. Ciais, A. Tagliabue, L. Bopp, G. Hoffmann, A. Lourantou & C. Koven

  2. UFZ—Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany

    M. Cuntz

  3. Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany

    M. Cuntz

  4. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queens Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK

    M. Scholze

  5. Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, New South Wales 2109, Australia

    S. P. Harrison, I. C. Prentice & D. I. Kelley

  6. School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1SS, UK

    S. P. Harrison & D. I. Kelley

  7. and Division of Biology, Grantham Institute for Climate Change, Imperial College, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK

    I. C. Prentice

  8. Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

    S. L. Piao

  9. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, MS 50-4037, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

    C. Koven

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Contributions

P.C. developed the model and carried out the analyses. A.T. calculated ocean C stocks and the 13C isotopic composition for the PRE. M.C. carried out the uncertainty analysis associated with the terrestrial photosynthesis estimates. I.C.P., D.I.K., M.S. and S.P.H. provided simulated biomes parameters, and S.P.H. provided vegetation reconstructions. All co-authors substantially contributed to interpreting the results and writing the paper.

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Correspondence to P. Ciais or A. Tagliabue.

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Ciais, P., Tagliabue, A., Cuntz, M. et al. Large inert carbon pool in the terrestrial biosphere during the Last Glacial Maximum. Nature Geosci 5, 74–79 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1324

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