Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 324, Issue 5926, Pages 506-508Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.1168909
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Funding
- NSF [OPP0221470, OPP0221410]
- Packard Fellowship
- American Chemical Society [PRF 42551-AC2]
- ANSTO Cosmogenic Climate Archives of the Southern Hemisphere project
- New Zealand Foundation of Science and Technology [C01X0703]
- Australian Climate Change Science Program
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The cause of a large increase of atmospheric methane concentration during the Younger Dryas-Preboreal abrupt climatic transition (similar to 11,600 years ago) has been the subject of much debate. The carbon-14 (C-14) content of methane ((CH4)-C-14) should distinguish between wetland and clathrate contributions to this increase. We present measurements of (CH4)-C-14 in glacial ice, targeting this transition, performed by using ice samples obtained from an ablation site in west Greenland. Measured (CH4)-C-14 values were higher than predicted under any scenario. Sample (CH4)-C-14 appears to be elevated by direct cosmogenic C-14 production in ice. C-14 of CO was measured to better understand this process and correct the sample (CH4)-C-14. Corrected results suggest that wetland sources were likely responsible for the majority of the Younger Dryas-Preboreal CH4 rise.
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