Control of the glacial carbon budget by topographically induced mixing

Agatha M. De Boer*, Andrew Mc C. Hogg

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    21 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Evidence for the oceanic uptake of atmospheric CO2 during glaciations suggests that there was less production of southern origin deep water but, paradoxically, a larger volume of southern origin water than today. Here we demonstrate, using a theoretical box model, that the inverse relationship between volume and production rate of this water mass can be explained by invoking mixing rates in the deep ocean that are proportional to topographic outcropping area scaled with ocean floor slope. Furthermore, we show that the resulting profile, of a near-linear decrease in mixing intensity away from the bottom, generates a positive feedback on CO2 uptake that can initiate a glacial cycle. The results point to the importance of using topography-dependent mixing when studying the large-scale ocean circulation, especially in the paleo-intercomparisonmodels that have failed to produce the weaker and more voluminous bottom water of the Last Glacial Maximum.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)4277-4284
    Number of pages8
    JournalGeophysical Research Letters
    Volume41
    Issue number12
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014

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