Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 25 November 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5752, pp. 1313 - 1317
DOI: 10.1126/science.1120130
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Stable Carbon Cycle–Climate Relationship During the Late Pleistocene

Urs Siegenthaler,1 Thomas F. Stocker,1* Eric Monnin,1 Dieter Lüthi,1 Jakob Schwander,1 Bernhard Stauffer,1 Dominique Raynaud,2 Jean-Marc Barnola,2 Hubertus Fischer,3 Valérie Masson-Delmotte,4 Jean Jouzel4

A record of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations measured on the EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) Dome Concordia ice core extends the Vostok CO2 record back to 650,000 years before the present (yr B.P.). Before 430,000 yr B.P., partial pressure of atmospheric CO2 lies within the range of 260 and 180 parts per million by volume. This range is almost 30% smaller than that of the last four glacial cycles; however, the apparent sensitivity between deuterium and CO2 remains stable throughout the six glacial cycles, suggesting that the relationship between CO2 and Antarctic climate remained rather constant over this interval.

1 Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.
2 Laboratoire de Glaciologie et de Géophysique de l'Environnement (CNRS), 54 Rue Molières, 38402 St. Martin d'Hères Cedex, France.
3 Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Columbusstrasse, D-27568 Bremerhaven, Germany.
4 Institut Pierre Simon Laplace/Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, CEA-CNRS 1572, CE Saclay, Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: stocker{at}climate.unibe.ch

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Polar firn air reveals large-scale impact of anthropogenic mercury emissions during the 1970s.
X. Fain, C. P. Ferrari, A. Dommergue, M. R. Albert, M. Battle, J. Severinghaus, L. Arnaud, J.-M. Barnola, W. Cairns, C. Barbante, et al. (2009)
PNAS 106, 16114-16119
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Crops and climate change: progress, trends, and challenges in simulating impacts and informing adaptation.
A. J. Challinor, F. Ewert, S. Arnold, E. Simelton, and E. Fraser (2009)
J. Exp. Bot. 60, 2775-2789
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Concentration Across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition.
B. Honisch, N. G. Hemming, D. Archer, M. Siddall, and J. F. McManus (2009)
Science 324, 1551-1554
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Wind-Driven Upwelling in the Southern Ocean and the Deglacial Rise in Atmospheric CO2.
R. F. Anderson, S. Ali, L. I. Bradtmiller, S. H. H. Nielsen, M. Q. Fleisher, B. E. Anderson, and L. H. Burckle (2009)
Science 323, 1443-1448
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Introduction. Pliocene climate, processes and problems.
A. M Haywood, H. J Dowsett, P. J Valdes, D. J Lunt, J. E Francis, and B. W Sellwood (2009)
Phil Trans R Soc A 367, 3-17
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Facing future climate change: is the past relevant?.
L. Skinner (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc A 366, 4627-4645
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The next generation of iron fertilization experiments in the Southern Ocean.
V Smetacek and S.W.A Naqvi (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc A 366, 3947-3967
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
An operational monitoring system to provide indicators of CO2-related variables in the ocean.
N. J. Hardman-Mountford, G. Moore, D. C. E. Bakker, A. J. Watson, U. Schuster, R. Barciela, A. Hines, G. Moncoiffe, J. Brown, S. Dye, et al. (2008)
ICES J. Mar. Sci. 65, 1498-1503
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Natural Variability of Greenland Climate, Vegetation, and Ice Volume During the Past Million Years.
A. de Vernal and C. Hillaire-Marcel (2008)
Science 320, 1622-1625
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evidence for Upwelling of Corrosive "Acidified" Water onto the Continental Shelf.
R. A. Feely, C. L. Sabine, J. M. Hernandez-Ayon, D. Ianson, and B. Hales (2008)
Science 320, 1490-1492
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Impacts of ocean acidification on marine fauna and ecosystem processes.
V. J. Fabry, B. A. Seibel, R. A. Feely, and J. C. Orr (2008)
ICES J. Mar. Sci. 65, 414-432
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Rates of change in natural and anthropogenic radiative forcing over the past 20,000 years.
F. Joos and R. Spahni (2008)
PNAS 105, 1425-1430
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From the Cover: The impact of Miocene atmospheric carbon dioxide fluctuations on climate and the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems.
W. M. Kurschner, Z. Kvacek, and D. L. Dilcher (2008)
PNAS 105, 449-453
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Vital effects and beyond: a modelling perspective on developing palaeoceanographical proxy relationships in foraminifera.
R. E. Zeebe, J. Bijma, B. Honisch, A. Sanyal, H. J. Spero, and D. A. Wolf-Gladrow (2008)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 303, 45-58
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Quaternary science 2007: a 50-year retrospective.
M. Walker and J. Lowe (2007)
Journal of the Geological Society 164, 1073-1092
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From the Cover: Contributions to accelerating atmospheric CO2 growth from economic activity, carbon intensity, and efficiency of natural sinks.
J. G. Canadell, C. Le Quere, M. R. Raupach, C. B. Field, E. T. Buitenhuis, P. Ciais, T. J. Conway, N. P. Gillett, R. A. Houghton, and G. Marland (2007)
PNAS 104, 18866-18870
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Estimating the potential for twenty-first century sudden climate change.
D. Shindell (2007)
Phil Trans R Soc A 365, 2675-2694
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From the Cover: Antarctic climate signature in the Greenland ice core record.
S. Barker and G. Knorr (2007)
PNAS 104, 17278-17282
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Orbital and Millennial Antarctic Climate Variability over the Past 800,000 Years.
J. Jouzel, V. Masson-Delmotte, O. Cattani, G. Dreyfus, S. Falourd, G. Hoffmann, B. Minster, J. Nouet, J. M. Barnola, J. Chappellaz, et al. (2007)
Science 317, 793-796
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Four Climate Cycles of Recurring Deep and Surface Water Destabilizations on the Iberian Margin.
B. Martrat, J. O. Grimalt, N. J. Shackleton, L. de Abreu, M. A. Hutterli, and T. F. Stocker (2007)
Science 317, 502-507
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Methane and nitrous oxide in the ice core record.
E. Wolff and R. Spahni (2007)
Phil Trans R Soc A 365, 1775-1792
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Dominant factors controlling glacial and interglacial variations in the treeline elevation in tropical Africa.
H. Wu, J. Guiot, S. Brewer, Z. Guo, and C. Peng (2007)
PNAS 104, 9720-9724
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Confronting the Climate-Energy Challenge.
D. P. Schrag (2007)
Elements 3, 171-178
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Projected distributions of novel and disappearing climates by 2100 AD.
J. W. Williams, S. T. Jackson, and J. E. Kutzbach (2007)
PNAS 104, 5738-5742
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
CO2-Forced Climate and Vegetation Instability During Late Paleozoic Deglaciation.
I. P. Montanez, N. J. Tabor, D. Niemeier, W. A. DiMichele, T. D. Frank, C. R. Fielding, J. L. Isbell, L. P. Birgenheier, and M. C. Rygel (2007)
Science 315, 87-91
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Powering the planet: Chemical challenges in solar energy utilization.
N. S. Lewis and D. G. Nocera (2006)
PNAS 103, 15729-15735
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Atmospheric Methane and Nitrous Oxide of the Late Pleistocene from Antarctic Ice Cores.
R. Spahni, J. Chappellaz, T. F. Stocker, L. Loulergue, G. Hausammann, K. Kawamura, J. Fluckiger, J. Schwander, D. Raynaud, V. Masson-Delmotte, et al. (2005)
Science 310, 1317-1321
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)