Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 7, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11146
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Funding
- NSF OCE [1232620]
- Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) [NE/I020563/1]
- NERC [NE/E018432/1]
- US National Science Foundation
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/I020563/1, NE/E018432/1, bas0100030] Funding Source: researchfish
- NERC [NE/I020563/1, NE/E018432/1, bas0100030] Funding Source: UKRI
- Division Of Ocean Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [1232620, 1232413] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Oxygen depletion in the upper ocean is commonly associated with poor ventilation and storage of respired carbon, potentially linked to atmospheric CO2 levels. Iodine to calcium ratios (I/Ca) in recent planktonic foraminifera suggest that values less than similar to 2.5 mu mol mol(-1) indicate the presence of O-2-depleted water. Here we apply this proxy to estimate past dissolved oxygen concentrations in the near surface waters of the currently well-oxygenated Southern Ocean, which played a critical role in carbon sequestration during glacial times. A down-core planktonic I/Ca record from south of the Antarctic Polar Front (APF) suggests that minimum O-2 concentrations in the upper ocean fell below 70 mu mol kg(-1) during the last two glacial periods, indicating persistent glacial O-2 depletion at the heart of the carbon engine of the Earth's climate system. These new estimates of past ocean oxygenation variability may assist in resolving mechanisms responsible for the much-debated ice-age atmospheric CO2 decline.
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