Abstract
A record of biogenic opal production in the subtropical Atlantic Ocean fuels the theory that ocean circulation, rather than winds, drove the release of carbon dioxide from deep marine waters at the end of the last ice age. See Letter p.495 The Southern Ocean is thought to have an important role in driving glacial/interglacial changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, but the mechanism responsible for carbon dioxide release upon deglaciation remains unclear. Based on a record of biogenic opal export that exhibits opal maxima during each glacial termination of the past 550,000 years, Nele Meckler et al. propose that deglacial reduction in glacial North Atlantic intermediate water led to downward mixing of warm, low-density surface water ultimately triggering Antarctic overturning and carbon dioxide release to the atmosphere.
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