Loss of Carbon from the Deep Sea Since the Last Glacial Maximum

Abstract

Moving Carbon During the last glacial maximum, approximately 23,000 years ago, both the atmosphere and the terrestrial biosphere contained much less carbon than in the immediately preindustrial era. The carbon must have been stored in the deep ocean, and the transfer of carbon to the air and land during deglaciation must have affected the carbonate chemistry and carbon isotopic composition of the sea. Yu et al. (p. 1084 ) estimated how deep-water carbonate concentrations changed over the course of the last deglaciation and combined their results with 13 C/ 12 C data to show that carbon released by the deep ocean between 17.5 and 14.5 thousand years ago mostly stayed in the atmosphere as CO 2 , while between 14 and 10 thousand years ago, a substantial fraction was absorbed by the terrestrial biosphere.