Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-2rsb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-12T08:15:56.245Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Information on the CO2 Cycle from Ice Core Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Werner Berner,
Hans Oeschger and
Bernhard Stauffer
Werner Berner
Affiliation:
Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, Bern, Switzerland
Hans Oeschger
Affiliation:
Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, Bern, Switzerland
Bernhard Stauffer
Affiliation:
Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, Bern, Switzerland
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

Information on the history of the atmospheric CO2 content and the 13C/12 and 14C/C ratios is recorded in natural ice. Measurements on samples from very cold accumulation regions show that CO2 is occluded not only in air bubbles, but also in the ice lattice. The two CO2 components are of similar size. It is very difficult to measure CO2 in the bubbles and CO2 in the ice lattice separately. By melting the samples and extracting the evolving gases in two fractions, it is possible to estimate CO2 concentration in the bubbles and the ice lattice. Enrichment or depletion of CO2 in the bubbles by exchange with the ice is difficult to estimate. Information about this effect is expected from 13C/12C analysis on the extracted CO2 fractions.

To investigate whether atmospheric CO2 content was different during the last glaciation than during the present one, sets of 16 and 20 samples distributed over the last 40,000 years from the two deep ice cores from Camp Century (North Greenland) and Byrd Station (West Antarctica) were measured. The time scales for the two cores are based on a rheological model. Results and conclusions are:

  1. — The data series from both cores show similar trends correlated to a certain degree to the δ18O profiles.

  2. — For both cores, the values for the CO2 concentration of the first fraction, considered to best represent the atmospheric composition, show lower values during glaciation than in the Holocene, with a minimum before the end of glaciation.

  3. — Low CO2 concentrations in the first fractions (200ppm) of certain samples are a strong indication that the atmospheric CO2 concentration during last glaciation was lower than during the postglacial. These low concentrations indicate that, at that time, CO2 concentration in the atmosphere could have been lower than today by a factor of 1.5. Possible explanations for such a change in atmospheric CO2 content as well as its influence on atmospheric 14C/C ratio and on the radiation balance is discussed.

Information

Type
Natural 14C Variations
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , 1980, pp. 227 - 235
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

References

Berner, W, Stauffer, B, and Oeschger, Hans, 1978, Past atmospheric composition and climate, gas parameters measured on ice cores: Nature, v 275, no. 5683, p 53–55.Google Scholar
Broecker, W S, 1974, Chemical oceanography: New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 214 p.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, J, 1979, The long term impact of atmospheric carbon dioxide on climate, in JASON Technical Report JSR-78-07: SRI Internatl, Arlington, Virginia, p 184.Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W, Johnsen, S J, Clausen, H B, and Langway, C C Jr., 1971, Climatic record revealed by the Camp Century ice core, in Turekian, K K, ed, The late Cenozoic glacial ages: New Haven, Yale Univ Press, p 37–56.Google Scholar
Hammer, C U, Clausen, H B, Dansgaard, W, Gundestrup, N, Johnsen, S J, and Reeh, N, 1978, Dating of Greenland ice cores by flow models, isotopes, volcanic debris and continental dust: Jour Glaciol, v 20, no. 82, p 3–26.Google Scholar
Johnsen, S J, Dansgaard, W, Clausen, H B, and Langway, C C Jr., 1972, Oxygen isotope profile through the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets: Nature, v 235, no. 5339, p 429–434.Google Scholar
Keeling, C D, 1973, The carbon dioxide cycle: reservoir models to depict the exchange of atmospheric carbon dioxide with the oceans and land plants, in Rasool, S I, ed, Chemistry of the lower atmosphere: New York, Plenum Press, Inc, p 251–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loosli, H H and Oeschger, Hans, 1980, Use of 39Ar and 14C for groundwater dating, in Stuiver, Minze and Kra, Renee, eds, Internatl radiocarbon conf, 10th, Proc: Radiocarbon, v 22, no. 3, p 863–870.Google Scholar
Manabe, Syakuro, and Wetherald, R T, 1975, The effects of doubling the CO2 concentration on the climate of a general circulation model: Jour Atmospheric Sci, v 32, no. 1, p 3–15.Google Scholar
Matsuo, Sadao, and Miyake, Yasao, 1966, Gas composition in ice samples from Antarctica: Jour Geophys Research, v 71, no. 22, p 5235–5241.Google Scholar
Oeschger, Hans, Stauffer, B, Bucher, P, and Loosli, H H, 1977, Extraction of gases and dissolved and particulate matter from ice in deep boreholes, in Grenoble symposium, Proc, Isotopes and impurities in snow and ice: IAHS-AISH pub no. 118, p 307–311.Google Scholar
Raynaud, D and Delmas, R, 1977, Composition des gaz contenus dans la glace polaire, in Grenoble symposium, Proc, Isotopes and impurities in snow and ice: IAHS-AISH pub no. 118, p 377–381.Google Scholar
Raynaud, D and Lorius, C, 1977, Total gas content in polar ice: rheological and climatic implications, in Grenoble symposium, Proc, Isotopes and impurities in snow and ice: IAHS-AISH pub no. 118, p 326–335.Google Scholar
Scholander, P F, Hemmingsen, E A, Cochman, L K, and Nutt, D C, 1961, Composition of gas bubbles in Greenland icebergs: Jour Glaciol, v 3, p 813–822.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegenthaler, Ulrich, Heimann, Martin, and Oeschger, Hans, 1980, 14C variations caused by changes in the global carbon cycle, in Stuiver, Minze and Kra, Renee, eds, Internatl radiocarbon conf, 10th, Proc: Radiocarbon, v 22, no. 2, p 177–191.Google Scholar
Stauffer, B and Berner, W, 1978, CO2 in natural ice: Jour Glaciol, v 21, no. 85, p 291–300.Google Scholar