Glacial-Interglacial Atmospheric CO2 Change--The Glacial Burial Hypothesis

Organic carbon buried under the great ice sheets of the Northern Hemisphere is suggested to bethe missing link in the atmospheric CO2 change over the glacial-interglacial cycles. At glaciation, theadvancement of continental ice sheets buries vegetation and soil carbon accumulated during warmer pe-riods. At deglaciation, this burial carbon is released back into the atmosphere. In a simulation over twoglacial-interglacial cycles using a synchronously coupled atmosphere-land-ocean carbon model forced byreconstructed climate change, it is found that there is a 547-Gt terrestrial carbon release from glacialmaximum to interglacial, resulting in a 60-Gt (about 30-ppmv) increase in the atmospheric CO2, with theremainder absorbed by the ocean in a scenario in which ocean acts as a passive buffer. This is in contrastto previous estimates of a land uptake at deglaciation. This carbon source originates from glacial burial,continental shelf, and other land areas in response to changes in ice cover, sea level, and climate. The inputof light isotope enriched terrestrial carbon causes atmospheric 513C to drop by about 0.3% at deglaciation,followed by a rapid rise towards a high interglacial value in response to oceanic warming and regrowthon land. Together with other ocean based mechanisms such as change in ocean temperature, the glacialburial hypothesis may offer a full explanation of the observed 80 100-ppmv atmospheric CO2 change.