Climate of the Past www.clim-past.net 1814-9324 1814-9332 3 1 2007 10.5194/cp-3-135-2007 http://www.clim-past.net/3/135/2007/ http://www.clim-past.net/3/135/2007/cp-3-135-2007.html http://www.clim-past.net/3/135/2007/cp-3-135-2007.pdf 135 153 2007-03-02 Quasi-100 ky glacial-interglacial cycles triggered by subglacial burial carbon release N. Zeng zeng@atmos.umd.edu Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2425, USA The Department of Geology and the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2425, USA A mechanism is proposed in which climate, carbon cycle and icesheets interact with each other to produce a feedback that can lead to quasi-100 ky glacial-interglacial cycles. A central process is the burial and preservation of organic carbon by icesheets which contributes to the observed glacial-interglacial CO₂ change (the glacial burial hypothesis, Zeng, 2003). Allowing carbon cycle to interact with physical climate, here I further hypothesize that deglaciation can be triggered by the ejection of glacial burial carbon when a major icesheet grows to sufficiently large size after a prolonged glaciation so that subglacial transport becomes significant. Glacial inception may be initiated by CO₂ drawdown due to a relaxation from a high but transient interglacial CO₂ value as the land-originated CO₂ invades into deep ocean via thermohaline circulation and CaCO₃ compensation. Also important for glacial inception may be the CO₂ uptake by vegetation and soil regrowth in the previously ice-covered regions. When tested in a fully coupled Earth system model with comprehensive carbon cycle components and semi-empirical physical climate components, it produced under certain parameter regimes self-sustaining glacial-interglacial cycles with durations of 93 ky, CO₂ changes of 90 ppmv, temperature changes of 6°C. Since the 100 ky cycles can not be easily explained by the Milankovitch astronomical forcing alone, this carbon-climate-icesheet mechanism provides a strong feedback that could interact with external forcings to produce the major observed Quaternary climatic variations. It is speculated that some glacial terminations may be triggered by this internal feedback while others by orbital forcing. Some observable consequences are highlighted that may support or falsify the theory. Adams, J. M., Faure, H., Faure-Denard, L., McGlade, J. M., et al.: Increase in terrestial carbon storage from the last glacial maximum to the present, Nature, 348, 711–714, 1990. Archer, D., Kheshgi, H., and Maier-Reimer, E.: Multiple timescales for neutralization of fossil fuel CO2, Geophys. Res. Lett., 24(4), 405–408, 1997. Archer, D., Winguth, A., Lea, D., and Mahowald, N.: What caused the glacial/interglacial atmospheric pCO(2) cycles?, Rev. Geophys., 38, 159–189, 2000. Broccoli, A. J. and Manabe, S.: The influence of continental ice, atmospheric CO2, and land albedo on the climate of the last glacial maximum, Clim. Dyn., 1, 87–99, 1987. Broecker, W. S. and Henderson, G. M.: The sequence of events surrounding Termination II and their implications for the cause of glacial-interglacial CO2 changes, Paleoceanography, 13, 352–364, 1998. Caillon, N., Severinghaus, J. P., Jouzel, J., et al.: Timing of atmospheric CO2 and Antarctic temperature changes across termination III, Science, 299(5613), 1728–1731, 2003. Caspersen, J. P., Pacala, S. W., Jenkins, J. C., et al.: Contributions of land-use history to carbon accumulation in US forests, Science, 290(5494), 1148–1151, 2000. Collatz, G. J., Berry, J. A., and Clark, J. S.: Effects of climate and atmospheric CO2 partial pressure on the global distribution of C-4 grasses: present, past, and future, Oecologia, 114, 441–454, 1998. Crowley, T. J.: Potential reconciliation of Devil's Hole and deep-sea Pleistocene Chronologies, Paleoceanography, 9(1), 1–5, 1994. Crowley, T. J.: Ice age terrestrial carbon changes revisited, Global Biogeochem. Cycle, 9, 377–389, 1995. Crowley, T. J.: Cycles, cycles everywhere, Science, 295(5559), 1473–1474, 2002. Curry, W. B., Duplessy, J.-C., Labeyrie, L. D., and Shackleton, N. J.: Changes in the distribution of $\delta^13$C of deep water CO2 between the last glacial and the Holocene, Paleoceanography, 3, 317–341, 1988. Dredge, L. A., Morgan, A. V., and Nielsen, E.: Sangamon and pre-sangamon interglaciations in the Hudson-Bay lowlands of Manitoba, Geographie Physique Et Quaternarie, 44, 319–336, 1990. Duplessy, J.-C., Shackleton, N. J., Fairbanks, R. J., Labeyrie, L. D., Oppo, D., and Kallel, N.: Deep water source variations during the last climatic cycle and their impact on the global deep water circulation, Paleoceanography, 3, 343–360, 1988. Edwards, R. L., Cheng, H., Murrell, M. T., et al.: Protactinium-231 dating of carbonates by thermal ionization mass spectrometry: Implications for quaternary climate change, Science, 276(5313), 782–786, 1997. EPICA community members: Eight glacial cycles from an Antarctic ice core, Nature, 429, 623–628, 2004. Field, C. B.: Plant physiology of the "missing" carbon sink, Plant Physiology, 125, 25–28, 2001. Flint, R. F.: Growth of North America Ice Sheet during the Wisconsin Age, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 54, 325–362, 1943. Franzen, L. G.: Are wetlands the key to the ice-age cycle enigma, Ambio, 23, 300–308, 1994. Franzen, L. G., Chen, D. L., and Klinger, L. F.: Principles for a climate regulation mechanism during the late phanerozoic era, based on carbon fixation in feat-forming wetlands, Ambio, 25(7), 435–442, 1996. Forsstrom, L. and Punkari, M.: Initiation of the last glaciation in Northern Europe, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 16(10), 1197–1215, 1997. Friedlingstein, P., Cox, P., Betts, R., Bopp, L., von Bloh, W., Brovkin, V., Cadule, P., Doney, S., Eby, M., Fung, I., Bala, G., John, J., Jones, C., Joos, F., Kato, T., Kawamiya, M., Knorr, W., Lindsay, K., Matthews, H. D., Raddatz, T., Rayner, P., Reick, C., Roeckner, E., Schnitzler, K.-G., Schnur, R., Strassmann, K., Weaver, A. J., Yoshikawa, C., and Zeng, N.: Climate-Carbon Cycle Feedback Analysis: Results from the C4MIP Model Intercomparison, J. Climate, 19, 3337–3353, 2006. Gallup, C. D., Cheng, H., Taylor, F. W., et al.: Direct determination of the timing of sea level change during termination II, Science, 295(5553), 310–313, 2002. Gildor, H. and Tziperman, E.: Physical mechanisms behind biogeochemical glacial-interglacial CO2 variations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 28(12), 2421–2424, 2001. Greve, R.: A continuum-mechanical formulation for shallow polythermal icesheets, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., A, 355, 921–974, 1997. Hays, J. D., Imbrie, J., and Shackleton, N. J.: Variations in the Earth's orbit: Pacemakers of the ice ages, Science, 194, 1121–1132, 1976. Hildes, D. H. D., Clarke, G. K. C., Flowers, G. E., and Marshall, S. J.: Subglacial erosion and englacial sediment transport modelled for North American ice sheets, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 23(3), 409–430, 2004. Herbert, T. D., Schuffert, J. D., Andreasen, D., et al.: Collapse of the California Current during glacial maxima linked to climate change on land, Science, 293(5527), 71–76, 2001. Hughen, K. A., Southon, J. R., Lehman, S. J., et al.: Synchronous radiocarbon and climate shifts during the last deglaciation, Science, 290(5498), 1951–1954, 2000. Hughen, K., Lehman, S., Southon, J., et al.: C-14 activity and global carbon cycle changes over the past 50,000 years, Science, 303(5655), 202–207, 2004. Imbrie, J. and Imbrie, J. Z.: Modeling the climatic response to orbital variations, Science, 207, 943–953, 1980. Imbrie, J., Berger, A., Boyle, E. A., et al.: On the Structure and origin of major glaciation cycles. 2. The 100,000-year cycle, Paleoceanography, 8(6), 699–735, 1993. Imbrie, J., Mix, A. C., and Martinson, D. G.: Milankovitch theory viewed from Devil's Hole, Nature, 363(6429), 531–533, 1993. Kageyama, M., Peyron, O., Pinot, S., et al.: The Last Glacial Maximum climate over Europe and western Siberia: a PMIP comparison between models and data, Clim. Dyn., 17(1), 23–43, 2001. Kaplan, J. O., Prentice, I. C., Knorr, W., et al.: Modeling the dynamics of terrestrial carbon storage since the Last Glacial Maximum, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(22), 2074, doi:10.1029/2002GL015230, 2002. Keir, R. S.: Is there a component of Pleistocene CO2 change associated with carbonate dissolution cycles?, Paleoceanography, 10, 871–880, 1995. Kirschbaum, M. U. F.: The temperature-dependence of soil organic-matter decomposition, and the effect of global warming on soil organic-C storage, Soil Biol. Biochem., 27(6), 753–760, 1995. Kleman, J. and Hattestrand, C.: Frozen-bed Fennoscandian and Laurentide ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum, Nature, 402(6757), 63–66, 1999. Klinger, L. F.: Peatland formation and ice ages: A possible Gaian mechanism related to community succession, in: Scientists on Gaia, edited by: Schneider, S. H. and Boston, P. J., pp. 247–255, MIT press, Cambridge, Mass., 1991. Klinger, L. F., Taylor, J. A., and Franzen, L. G.: The potential role of peatland dynamics in ice-age initiation, Quaternary Res., 45(1), 89–92, 1996. Koehler, P., Fischer, H., Munhoven, G., and Zeebe, R. E.: Quantitative interpretation of atmospheric carbon records over the last glacial termination, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 19, GB4020, doi:10.1029/2004GB002345, 2005. Koehler, P. and Fischer, H.: Simulating low frequency changes in atmospheric CO2 during the last 740 000 years, Clim. Past, 2, 57–78, 2006. Kutzbach, J., Gallimore, R., Harrison, S., Behling, P., et al.: Climate and biome simulations for the past 21,000 years, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 17, 473–506, 1998. Laj, C., Kissel, C., Mazaud, A., et al.: Geomagnetic field intensity, North Atlantic Deep Water circulation and atmospheric delta-14C during the last 50 kyr, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 200, 177–190, 2002. Lea, D. W., Bijma, J., Spero, H. J., and Archer, D.: Implications of a carbonate ion effect on shell carbon and oxygen isotopes for glacial ocean conditions, in: Use of Proxies in Paleoceanography: Examples from the South Atlantic, edited by: Fischer, G. and Wefer, G., Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 513–522, 1999. Leuenberger, M. C., Eyer, M., Bogni, S., Elsig, J., and Stocker, T. F.: High resolution $\delta^13$C measurements from the EPICA Dome C ice core, Proceedings of the 7th International CO2 Conference, 659–660, Sep. 25–30, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 2005. Li, X. S., Berger, A., and Loutre, M. F.: CO2 and northern hemisphere ice volume variations over the middle and late Quaternary, Clim. Dyn., 14(7–8), 537–544, 1998. Lorius, C., Jouzel, J., Raynaud, D., et al.: The ice-core record – climate sensitivity and future greenhouse warming, Nature, 347(6289), 139–145, 1990. Luo, Y. Q., Hui, D. F., and Zhang, D. Q.: Elevated CO2 stimulates net accumulations of carbon and nitrogen in land ecosystems: A meta-analysis, Ecology, 87(1), 53–63, 2006. MacAyeal, D. R.: Binge/purge oscillations of the Laurentide Ice Sheet as a cause of the North Atlantic Heinrich events, Paleoceanography, 8, 775–784, 1993. Marino, B. D., McElroy, M. B., Salawitch, R. J., and Spaulding, W. G.: Glacial-to-interglacial variations in the carbon isotopic composition of atmospheric CO2, Nature, 357, 461–466, 1992. Marshall, S. and Clark, P.: Basal temperature evolution of North American ice sheets and implications for the 100-kyr cycle, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, doi:10.1029/2002GL015192, 2002. Matsumoto, K. and Lynch-Stieglitz, J.: Similar glacial and Holocene deep water circulation inferred from southeast Pacific benthic foraminiferal carbon isotope composition, Paleoceanography, 14(2), 149–163, 1999. Oerlemans, J.: Model experiments on the 100,000-yr glacial cycle, Nature, 287, 430–432, 1980. Otto, D., Rasse, D., Kaplan, J., et al.: Biospheric carbon stocks reconstructed at the Last Glacial Maximum: comparison between general circulation models using prescribed and computed sea surface temperatures, Global Planet. Change, 33, 117–138, 2002. Pacala, S. W., Hurtt, G. C., Baker, D., et al.: Consistent land- and atmosphere-based US carbon sink estimates, Science, 292(5525), 2316–2320, 2001. Paillard, D. and Parrenin, F.: The Antarctic ice sheet and the triggering of deglaciations, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 227(3–4), 263–271, 2004. Peltier, W. R.: Ice age paleotopography, Science, 265, 195–201, 1994. Petit, J. R., Jouzel, J., Raynaud, D., Barkov, N. I., et al.: Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 years from the Vostok ice core, Antarctica, Nature, 399, 429–436, 1999. Punkari, M. and Forsstrom, L.: Organic remains in Finnish subglacial sediments, Quaternary Res., 43(3), 414–425, 1995. Ridgwell, A. J., Watson, A. J., and Raymo, M. E.: Is the spectral signature of the 100 kyr glacial cycle consistent with a Milankovitch origin?, Paleoceanography, 14(4), 437–440, 1999. Ridgwell, A. J.: Glacial-interglacial perturbations in the global carbon cycle, Ph.D thesis, Univ. of East Anglia at Norwich, UK, available at http://tracer.env.uea.ac.uk/e114/ridgwell_2001.pdf, 2001. Roe, G. H. and Allen, M. R.: A comparison of competing explanations for the 100,000-year ice age cycle, Geophys. Res. Lett., 26(15), 2259–2262, doi:10.1029/1999GL900509, 1999. Ruddiman, W. F.: Orbital insolation, ice volume, and greenhouse gases, Quat. Sci. Rev., 22(15–17), 1597–1629, 2003. Saltzman, B. and Maasch, K. A.: Carbon cycle instability as a cause of the late Pleistocene ice age oscillations: Modeling the asymmetric response, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 2(2), 177–185, 1988. Sarmiento, J. L. and Gruber, N.: Sinks for anthropogenic carbon, Physics Today, 55(8), 30–36, 2002. Shackleton, N. J.: Carbon-13 in Uvigerina: Tropical rainforest history and the equatorial Pacific carbonate dissolution cycles, in: The Fate of Fossil Fuel CO2 in the Oceans, edited by: Andersen, N. R. and Malahoff, A., pp. 401–428, Plenum, New York, 1977. Shackleton, N. J.: The 100,000-year ice-age cycle identified and found to lag temperature, carbon dioxide, and orbital eccentricity, Science, 289(5486), 1897–1902, 2000. Sigman, D. M. and Boyle, E. A.: Glacial/interglacial variations in atmospheric carbon dioxide, Nature, 407, 859–869, 2000. Toggweiler, J. R., Russell, J. L., and Carson, S. R.: Midlatitude westerlies, atmospheric CO2, and climate change during the ice ages, Paleoceanography, 21(2), art. no. PA2005, 2006. Toggweiler, J. R.: Variation of atmospheric CO2 by ventilation of the ocean's deepest water, Paleoceanography, 14(5), 571–588, 1999. Skidmore, M. L., Foght, J. M., and Sharp, M. J.: Microbial life beneath a high Arctic glacier, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 66(8), 3214–3220, 2000. Smith, H. J., Fischer, H., Wahlen, M., Mastroianni, D., et al.: Dual modes of the carbon cycle since the Last Glacial Maximum, Nature, 400, 248–250, 1999. Smith, L. C., MacDonald, G. M., Velichko, A. A., Beilman, D. W., Borisova, O. K., Frey, K. A., Kremenetski, K. V., and Sheng, Y.: Siberian peatlands a net carbon sink and global methane source since the early Holocene, Science, 303, 353–356, 2004. Souchez, R.: The buildup of the ice sheet in central Greenland, J. Geophys. Res., 102(C12), 26317–26323, 1997. Spero, H. J., Bijma, J., Lea, D. W., and Bemis, B. E.: Effect of seawater carbonate concentration on foraminiferal carbon and oxygen isotopes, Nature, 390(6659), 497–500, 1997. Spero, H. J. and Lea, D. W.: The cause of carbon isotope minimum events on glacial terminations, Science, 296, 522–525, 2002. Thompson, L. G.: Tropical ice core evidence for rapid Holocene climate change and asynchronous glaciation (Emiliani Lecture), Eos Trans. AGU, 85(47), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract PP33C-01, 2004. Vettoretti, G. and Peltier, W. R.: Sensitivity of glacial inception to orbital and greenhouse gas climate forcing, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 23(3–4), 499–519, 2004. Vitousek, P. M.: Nutrient Cycling and Limitation: Hawai'i as a Model System, Princeton University Press, 232pp, 2004. Weaver, A. J., Eby, M., Augustus, F. F., et al.: Simulated influence of carbon dioxide, orbital forcing and ice sheets on the climate of the Last Glacial Maximum, Nature, 394(6696), 847–853, 1998. Weitemeyer, K. A. and Buffett, B. A.: Accumulation and release of methane from clathrates below the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets, Global and Planetary Change, 53(3), 176–187, 2006. Welker, J. M., Fahnestock, J. T., and Jones, M. H.: Annual CO2 flux in dry and moist arctic tundra: Field responses to increases in summer temperatures and winter snow depth, Climatic Change, 44(1–2), 139–150, 2000. Winograd, I. J., Coplen, T. B., Landwehr, J. M., et al.: Continuous 500,000-year climate record from vein calcite in Devils-Hole, Nevada, Science, 258(5080), 255–260, 1992. Wunsch, C.: Quantitative estimate of the Milankovitch-forced contribution to observed Quaternary climate change, Quat. Sci. Rev., 23(9–10), 1001–1012, 2004. Yves, J. D.: Indications of recent extensive glacierization in north-central Baffin Island, N. W. T., J. Glacial., 4, 197–205, 1962. Zeng, N., Neelin, J. D., and Chou, C.: A quasi-equilibrium tropical circulation model – implementation and simulation, J. Atmos. Sci., 57, 1767–1796, 2000. Zeng, N.: Glacial-Interglacial Atmospheric CO2 Changes – The Glacial Burial Hypothesis, Adv. Atmos. Sci., 20, 677–693, 2003. Zeng, N., Qian, H., Munoz, E., and Iacono, R.: How strong is carbon cycle-climate feedback under global warming?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L20203, doi:10.1029/2004GL020904, 2004. Zeng, N., Mariotti, A., and Wetzel, P.: Terrestrial mechanisms of interannual CO2 variability, Global Biogeochem. Cycle, 19, GB1016, doi:10.1029/2004GB002273, 2005. Zimov, S. A., Schuur, E. A. G., and Chapin, F. S.: Permafrost and the global carbon budget, Science, 312(5780), 1612–1613, 2006.