Timing of atmospheric CO2 and Antarctic temperature changes across termination III.
The analysis of air bubbles from ice cores has yielded a precise record of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, but the timing of changes in these gases with respect to temperature is not accurately known because of uncertainty in the gas age-ice age difference. We have measured the isotopic composition of argon in air bubbles in the Vostok core during Termination III (approximately 240,000 years before the present). This record most likely reflects the temperature and accumulation change, although the mechanism remains unclear. The sequence of events during Termination III suggests that the CO2 increase lagged Antarctic deglacial warming by 800 +/- 200 years and preceded the Northern Hemisphere deglaciation.
Caillon
Nicolas
N
Institut Pierre Simon Laplace/Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique/CNRS, L'Orme des Merisiers, CEA Saclay, 91191, Gif sur Yvette, France. ncaillon@ucsd.edu
Severinghaus
Jeffrey P
JP
Jouzel
Jean
J
Barnola
Jean-Marc
JM
Kang
Jiancheng
J
Lipenkov
Volodya Y
VY