Tightened constraints on the time-lag between Antarctic temperature and CO2 during the last deglaciation

Joel Benjamin Pedro; Sune Olander Rasmussen; Tas D. van Ommen

doi:10.5194/cp-8-1213-2012

Tightened constraints on the time-lag between Antarctic temperature and CO₂ during the last deglaciation

Joel Benjamin Pedro, Sune Olander Rasmussen, Tas D. van Ommen

Physics of Ice, Climate and Earth

47 Citations (Scopus)

531 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Antarctic ice cores provide clear evidence of a close coupling between variations in Antarctic temperature and the atmospheric concentration of CO₂ during the
glacial/interglacial cycles of at least the past 800-thousand years. Precise information on the relative timing of the temperature and CO₂ changes can assist in refining our understanding of the physical processes involved in this coupling. Here, we focus on the last deglaciation, 19 000 to 11 000 yr before present, during which CO₂ concentrations increased by 80 parts per million by volume and Antarctic temperature increased by 10°C. Utilising a recently developed proxy for regional Antarctic temperature, derived from five near-coastal ice cores and two ice core CO₂ records with high dating precision, we show that the increase in CO₂ likely lagged the increase in regional Antarctic temperature by less than 400 yr and that even a short lead of CO₂ over temperature cannot be excluded. This result, consistent for both CO₂ records, implies a faster coupling between temperature and CO₂ than previous estimates, which had permitted up to millennial-scale lags.

Original language	English
Journal	Climate of the Past
Volume	8
Pages (from-to)	1213-1221
Number of pages	9
ISSN	1814-9324
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1213-2012
Publication status	Published - 23 Jul 2012

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Cite this

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title = "Tightened constraints on the time-lag between Antarctic temperature and CO2 during the last deglaciation",

abstract = "Antarctic ice cores provide clear evidence of a close coupling between variations in Antarctic temperature and the atmospheric concentration of CO2 during the glacial/interglacial cycles of at least the past 800-thousand years. Precise information on the relative timing of the temperature and CO2 changes can assist in refining our understanding of the physical processes involved in this coupling. Here, we focus on the last deglaciation, 19 000 to 11 000 yr before present, during which CO2 concentrations increased by 80 parts per million by volume and Antarctic temperature increased by 10°C. Utilising a recently developed proxy for regional Antarctic temperature, derived from five near-coastal ice cores and two ice core CO2 records with high dating precision, we show that the increase in CO2 likely lagged the increase in regional Antarctic temperature by less than 400 yr and that even a short lead of CO2 over temperature cannot be excluded. This result, consistent for both CO2 records, implies a faster coupling between temperature and CO2 than previous estimates, which had permitted up to millennial-scale lags.",

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AU - Rasmussen, Sune Olander

AU - van Ommen, Tas D.

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N2 - Antarctic ice cores provide clear evidence of a close coupling between variations in Antarctic temperature and the atmospheric concentration of CO2 during the glacial/interglacial cycles of at least the past 800-thousand years. Precise information on the relative timing of the temperature and CO2 changes can assist in refining our understanding of the physical processes involved in this coupling. Here, we focus on the last deglaciation, 19 000 to 11 000 yr before present, during which CO2 concentrations increased by 80 parts per million by volume and Antarctic temperature increased by 10°C. Utilising a recently developed proxy for regional Antarctic temperature, derived from five near-coastal ice cores and two ice core CO2 records with high dating precision, we show that the increase in CO2 likely lagged the increase in regional Antarctic temperature by less than 400 yr and that even a short lead of CO2 over temperature cannot be excluded. This result, consistent for both CO2 records, implies a faster coupling between temperature and CO2 than previous estimates, which had permitted up to millennial-scale lags.

AB - Antarctic ice cores provide clear evidence of a close coupling between variations in Antarctic temperature and the atmospheric concentration of CO2 during the glacial/interglacial cycles of at least the past 800-thousand years. Precise information on the relative timing of the temperature and CO2 changes can assist in refining our understanding of the physical processes involved in this coupling. Here, we focus on the last deglaciation, 19 000 to 11 000 yr before present, during which CO2 concentrations increased by 80 parts per million by volume and Antarctic temperature increased by 10°C. Utilising a recently developed proxy for regional Antarctic temperature, derived from five near-coastal ice cores and two ice core CO2 records with high dating precision, we show that the increase in CO2 likely lagged the increase in regional Antarctic temperature by less than 400 yr and that even a short lead of CO2 over temperature cannot be excluded. This result, consistent for both CO2 records, implies a faster coupling between temperature and CO2 than previous estimates, which had permitted up to millennial-scale lags.

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