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Influence of productivity variations on long-term atmospheric CO2

Nature volume 337, pages 541–544 (1989)Cite this article

Abstract

Evidence from ice cores1 and deep-sea sediments2 shows that atmospheric CO2 concentration has varied by up to 40% over the past few hundred thousand years. As most of the exchangeable carbon resides in the deep sea, large changes in the atmosphere must have their source here. The distribution of carbon in the ocean is linked to biological productivity, the sinking and degradation of organic matter and calcium carbonate, and ocean circulation3. Carbon-cycle models predict different (and sometimes conflicting) shifts in productivity, and estimates of past productivity constrain the range of possible solutions. Here I use planktonic foraminifera species data in modern and ice-age Atlantic sediments to assess spatial patterns of changes in productivity. Ice-age export productivity was higher than at present by nearly 40% for the whole Atlantic, and by 90% under the Equator. These changes, if extrapolated to the global ocean, support models in which a significant portion of CO2 changes are driven by variations in biological productivity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Oceanography, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, 97331, USA

    Alan C. Mix

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  1. Alan C. Mix
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Mix, A. Influence of productivity variations on long-term atmospheric CO2. Nature 337, 541–544 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/337541a0

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