Low atmospheric CO2 levels during the Little Ice Age due to cooling-induced terrestrial uptake

Rubino, Mauro; Etheridge, D. M.; Trudinger, Cathy M.; Allison, C. E.; Rayner, P. J.; Enting, I. G.; Mulvaney, Robert; Steele, Lloyd; Langenfelds, Ray L.; Sturges, William T.; Curran, Mark A. J.; Smith, A. M.

doi:10.1038/ngeo2769

Cited by 53 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 51 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Our modeling analysis suggests that the cooling during the LIA was largely contributed by a series of huge volcanic eruptions over the LIA period. The cooling‐induced terrestrial C uptake was consider as the cause of the observed lower ice‐core CO 2 level record during the LIA (Rubino et al, ). These long‐term impacts were evident over timescales of around few hundred years until the land C cycle returns to equilibrium and contributed 25% of variance in NPP and RH on centennial timescales (Figure ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Greenhouse Gas Concentration and Volcanic Eruptions Controlled the Variability of Terrestrial Carbon Uptake Over the Last Millennium

Zhang

Peng

Ciais

et al. 2019

J Adv Model Earth Syst

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The terrestrial net biome production (NBP) is considered as one of the major drivers of interannual variation in atmospheric CO2 levels. However, the determinants of variability in NBP under the background climate (i.e., preindustrial conditions) remain poorly understood, especially on decadal‐to‐centennial timescales. We analyzed 1,000‐year simulations spanning 850‐1,849 from the Community Earth System Model (CESM) and found that the variability in NBP and heterotrophic respiration (RH) were largely driven by fluctuations in the net primary production (NPP) and carbon turnover rates in response to climate variability. On interannual to multidecadal timescales, variability in NBP was dominated by variation in NPP, while variability in RH was driven by variation in turnover rates. However, on centennial timescales (100‐1,000 years), the RH variability became more tightly coupled to that of NPP. The NBP variability on centennial timescales was low, due to the near cancellation of NPP and NPP‐driven RH changes arising from climate internal variability and external forcings: preindustrial greenhouse gases, volcanic eruptions, land use changes, orbital change, and solar activity. Factorial experiments showed that globally on centennial timescales, the forcing of changes in greenhouse gas concentrations were the largest contributor (51%) to variations in both NPP and RH, followed by volcanic eruptions impacting NPP (25%) and RH (31%). Our analysis of the carbon‐cycle suggests that geoengineering solutions by injection of stratospheric aerosols might be ineffective on longer timescales.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Greenhouse Gas Concentration and Volcanic Eruptions Controlled the Variability of Terrestrial Carbon Uptake Over the Last Millennium

Zhang

Peng

Ciais

et al. 2019

J Adv Model Earth Syst

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The brief decrease in concentration of CO2 in the Law Dome ice core around 1600 CE (Etheridge et al 1996, MacFarling Meure et al 2006) was used by Lewis and Maslin (2015) as their "Orbis Event" which they regarded as sufficiently important to be a candidate for defining the beginning of the Anthropocene. Analysis of changes in atmospheric carbonyl sulphide concentration, which is linked to changes in gross primary production of terrestrial ecosystems, shows that temperature change, rather than vegetation re-growth, was the main cause of the increased terrestrial storage and hence drop in atmospheric CO2 around 1600 CE (Rubino et al 2016). After a recovery, CO2 maintained comparatively low concentrations and elevated δ 13 C through to 1750 CE (Rubino et al 2013).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Anthropocene Series: Where and how to look for potential candidates

Waters

Zalasiewicz

Summerhayes

et al. 2018

Earth-Science Reviews

177

132

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Anthropocene as a potential new unit of the International Chronostratigraphic Chart (which serves as the basis of the Geological Time Scale) is assessed in terms of the stratigraphic markers and approximate boundary levels available to define the base of the unit. The task of assessing and selecting potential Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) candidate sections, a required part of the process in seeking formalisation of the term, is now being actively pursued. Here, we review the suitability of different stratified palaeoenvironmental settings and facies as potential hosts for a candidate GSSP and auxiliary sections, and the relevant stratigraphical markers for correlation. Published examples are evaluated for their strengths and weaknesses in this respect. A marked upturn in abundance of radioisotopes of 239 Pu or 14 C, approximately in 1952 and 1954 CE respectively, broadly coincident with a downturn in δ 13 C values, is applicable across most environments. Principal palaeoenvironments examined include: settings associated with accumulations of anthropogenic material, marine anoxic basins, coral reefs, estuaries and deltas, lakes at various latitudes, peat bogs, snow/ice layers, speleothems and trees.Together, many of these geographically diverse palaeoenvironments offer annual/subannual laminae that can be counted and independently dated radiometrically (e.g. by 210 Pb).Examples of possible sections offer the possibility of correlation with annual/seasonal resolution. From among such examples, a small number of potentially representative sites require the acquisition of more systematic and comprehensive datasets, with correlation established between sections, to allow selection of a candidate GSSP and auxiliary stratotypes. The assessments in this paper will help find the optimal locations for these sections.

show abstract

“…However, this third link in the chain is the most speculative. Reforestation in the Americas-if it indeed occurred-coincided with deforestation in Asia, and cooling soils apparently absorbed more carbon from the atmosphere, with no human intervention required (Brooke, 2015, p. 441;Elvin, 2008;Kaplan et al, 2011;Lewis & Maslin, 2015;Liebmann et al, 2016;Rubino et al, 2016;Ruddiman, 2005;White, 2017, p. 23).…”

Section: Crisis and Conflict In The Early Liamentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change and society in the 15th to 18th centuries

Degroot

2018

WIREs Climate Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Scholars in many disciplines have used diverse methods and sources to establish that, between the 15th and 18th centuries, a “Little Ice Age” considerably cooled Earth's climate. In four particularly chilly periods—the Spörer Minimum, Grindelwald Fluctuation, Maunder Minimum, and Dalton Minimum—falling temperatures both caused and reflected changes in atmospheric circulation that altered regional patterns of precipitation. Many scholars have argued that weather in these cold periods provoked or worsened regional food shortages, famines, rebellions, wars, and outbreaks of epidemic disease, in ways that may have contributed to mass mortality across the early modern world. More recently, some scholars have contrasted the fates of societies or communities that were “vulnerable” to climate change with those that were “resilient” or even consciously or unconsciously adaptive in the face of the Little Ice Age. Overall, research that connects climatic and social histories has suggested that human decisions, political structures, economic arrangements, institutions, and cultures either magnified or mitigated the impact of climate change on the societies of the early modern world. This article is categorized under: Climate, History, Society, Culture > Major Historical Eras

show abstract

Low atmospheric CO2 levels during the Little Ice Age due to cooling-induced terrestrial uptake

Cited by 53 publications

References 51 publications

Greenhouse Gas Concentration and Volcanic Eruptions Controlled the Variability of Terrestrial Carbon Uptake Over the Last Millennium

Greenhouse Gas Concentration and Volcanic Eruptions Controlled the Variability of Terrestrial Carbon Uptake Over the Last Millennium

Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Anthropocene Series: Where and how to look for potential candidates

Climate change and society in the 15th to 18th centuries

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About