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Foto Zhengyao Lu

Zhengyao Lu

Researcher

Foto Zhengyao Lu

Delayed Collapse of the North Pacific Intermediate Water After the Glacial Termination

Author

  • Debo Zhao
  • Shiming Wan
  • Zhengyao Lu
  • Lina Zhai
  • Xuguang Feng
  • Xuefa Shi
  • Anchun Li

Summary, in English

Carbon release from the North Pacific in glacial-interglacial cycles has been mainly linked to the North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) formation and associated carbon/nutrient water upwelling and biological productivity changes. However, relationship between NPIW and atmospheric CO2 change in the early interglacial remains unclear. Here we report a high-resolution sediment record of NPIW evolution based on paleo-redox changes in the Western North Pacific during the last 400 ka. Our proxy and model results reveal a delayed collapse of NPIW after the glacial termination was coeval with decreased salinity of intermediate water and increased net rainfall in the North Pacific. Such weakened NPIW formation in the North Pacific probably make a contribution to maintain high atmospheric CO2 concentrations through weakened intermediate-to-deep ocean stratification and reduced subsurface biological pump net efficiency, countering the return to more stratified conditions in the Southern Ocean, which should drive down atmospheric CO2 during the early interglacial.

Department/s

  • Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
  • MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)

Publishing year

2021-07

Language

English

Publication/Series

Geophysical Research Letters

Volume

48

Issue

13

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Topic

  • Earth and Related Environmental Sciences

Keywords

  • marine sediment
  • NPIW
  • Okinawa Trough
  • redox environment
  • trace elements

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0094-8276