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Science 25 March 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5717, pp. 1933 - 1938
DOI: 10.1126/science.1104883
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Research Articles

Temporal Relationships of Carbon Cycling and Ocean Circulation at Glacial Boundaries

Alexander M. Piotrowski,*{dagger} Steven L. Goldstein, Sidney R. Hemming, Richard G. Fairbanks

Evidence from high-sedimentation-rate South Atlantic deep-sea cores indicates that global and Southern Ocean carbon budget shifts preceded thermohaline circulation changes during the last ice age initiation and termination and that these were preceded by ice-sheet growth and retreat, respectively. No consistent lead-lag relationships are observed during abrupt millennial warming events during the last ice age, allowing for the possibility that ocean circulation triggered some millenial climate changes. At the major glacial-interglacial transitions, the global carbon budget and thermohaline ocean circulation responded sequentially to the climate changes that forced the growth and decline of continental ice sheets.

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA.

* Present address: Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge University, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: apio04{at}esc.cam.ac.uk

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation During the Last Glacial Maximum.
J. Lynch-Stieglitz, J. F. Adkins, W. B. Curry, T. Dokken, I. R. Hall, J. C. Herguera, J. J.-M. Hirschi, E. V. Ivanova, C. Kissel, O. Marchal, et al. (2007)
Science 316, 66-69
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
No change in the neodymium isotope composition of deep water exported from the North Atlantic on glacial-interglacial time scales.
G. L. Foster, D. Vance, and J. Prytulak (2007)
Geology 35, 37-40
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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