Godwin Laboratory for Palaeoclimate Research, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK.
Science. 2010 May 28;328(5982):1147-51. doi: 10.1126/science.1183627.
Past glacial-interglacial increases in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) are thought to arise from the rapid release of CO2 sequestered in the deep sea, primarily via the Southern Ocean. Here, we present radiocarbon evidence from the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean that strongly supports this hypothesis. We show that during the last glacial period, deep water circulating around Antarctica was more than two times older than today relative to the atmosphere. During deglaciation, the dissipation of this old and presumably CO2-enriched deep water played an important role in the pulsed rise of atmospheric CO2 through its variable influence on the upwelling branch of the Antarctic overturning circulation.
过去的冰期-间冰期大气二氧化碳（CO2）浓度的增加被认为源于深海中储存的 CO2 的快速释放，主要通过南大洋。在这里，我们提供了来自南大洋大西洋部分的放射性碳证据，这有力地支持了这一假说。我们表明，在上一个冰河时期，相对于大气而言，在南极周围循环的深层海水的年龄比今天要老两倍以上。在冰消期，这种古老的、可能富含 CO2 的深层海水的消散，通过对南极翻转环流上升分支的可变影响，在大气 CO2 的脉冲式上升中发挥了重要作用。
