Nature Communications (May 2019)

More efficient North Atlantic carbon pump during the Last Glacial Maximum

  • J. Yu,
  • L. Menviel,
  • Z. D. Jin,
  • D. J. R. Thornalley,
  • G. L. Foster,
  • E. J. Rohling,
  • I. N. McCave,
  • J. F. McManus,
  • Y. Dai,
  • H. Ren,
  • F. He,
  • F. Zhang,
  • P. J. Chen,
  • A. P. Roberts

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10028-z
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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Atmospheric CO2 is governed by CO2 gains (e.g., via Southern Ocean outgassing) and losses (e.g., via North Atlantic absorption). Using a novel method to estimate air–sea CO2 exchange signals, the authors show that North Atlantic CO2 absorption became more efficient and contributed to lowering atmospheric CO2 during ice ages.