This paper presents simulations with a coupled model of glacial climate and biogeochemical cycles, forced only with changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. It is found that variations in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels on millennial time scales are dominated by slow changes in the deep ocean inventory of biologically-sequestered carbon and are correlated to Antarctic temperature and Southern Ocean stratification. The results suggest that ocean circulation changes were the primary mechanism that drove glacial fluctuations in carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide fluctuations on millennial time scales.
- Andreas Schmittner
- Eric D. Galbraith
