On the potential role of marine calcifiers in glacial-interglacial dynamics: CALCIFIERS AND GLACIAL DYNAMICS
Name
On_the_potential_role_of_marine_calcifiers_in_glac.pdf
Description
Published version
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411.73 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Omta, Anne Willem
Follows, Michael J
Date Issued
August 2013
Journal
Global Biogeochemical Cycles
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Citation
Omta, Anne Willem et al. “On the potential role of marine calcifiers in glacial-interglacial dynamics: CALCIFIERS AND GLACIAL DYNAMICS.” Global Biogeochemical Cycles 27 (2013): © 2013 The Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Ice core measurements have revealed a highly asymmetric cycle in Antarctic temperature and atmospheric CO2 over the last 800 kyr. Both CO 2 and temperature decrease over 100 kyr going into a glacial period and then rise steeply over less than 10 kyr at the end of a glacial period. There does not yet exist wide agreement about the causes of this cycle or about the origin of its shape. Here we explore the possibility that an ecologically driven oscillator plays a role in the dynamics. A conceptual model describing the interaction between calcifying plankton and ocean alkalinity shows interesting features: (i) It generates an oscillation in atmospheric CO 2 with the characteristic asymmetric shape observed in the ice core record, (ii) the system can transform a sinusoidal Milankovitch forcing into a sawtooth-shaped output, and (iii) there are spikes of enhanced calcifier productivity at the glacial-interglacial transitions, consistent with several sedimentary records. This suggests that ecological processes might play an active role in the observed glacial-interglacial cycles.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1002/GBC.20060
