EPICA Dome C Ice Core 800KYr Carbon Dioxide Data

World Data Center for Paleoclimatology, Boulder and NOAA Paleoclimatology Program

NAME OF DATA SET: EPICA Dome C Ice Core 800KYr Carbon Dioxide Data LAST UPDATE: 6/2008 (Original receipt by WDC Paleo) CONTRIBUTORS: Dieter Luthi, et al. IGBP PAGES/WDCA CONTRIBUTION SERIES NUMBER: 2008-055

WDC PALEO CONTRIBUTION SERIES CITATION: Luthi, D., et al.. 2008. EPICA Dome C Ice Core 800KYr Carbon Dioxide Data. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series # 2008-055. NOAA/NCDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA.

ORIGINAL REFERENCE: Luthi, D., M. Le Floch, B. Bereiter, T. Blunier, J.-M. Barnola, U. Siegenthaler, D. Raynaud, J. Jouzel, H. Fischer, K. Kawamura, and T.F. Stocker. 2008. High-resolution carbon dioxide concentration record 650,000-800,000 years before present. Nature, Vol. 453, pp. 379-382, 15 May 2008. doi:10.1038/nature06949

ABSTRACT: Changes in past atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations can be determined by measuring the composition of air trapped in ice cores from Antarctica. So far, the Antarctic Vostok and EPICA Dome C ice cores have provided a composite record of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels over the past 650,000 years. Here we present results of the lowest 200m of the Dome C ice core, extending the record of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration by two complete glacial cycles to 800,000 yr before present. From previously published data and the present work, we find that atmospheric carbon dioxide is strongly correlated with Antarctic temperature throughout eight glacial cycles but with significantly lower concentrations between 650,000 and 750,000 yr before present. Carbon dioxide levels are below 180 parts per million by volume (p.p.m.v.) for a period of 3,000 yr during Marine Isotope Stage 16, possibly reflecting more pronounced oceanic carbon storage. We report the lowest carbon dioxide concentration measured in an ice core, which extends the pre-industrial range of carbon dioxide concentrations during the late Quaternary by about 10 p.p.m.v. to 172-300 p.p.m.v.

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES: Indermuhle, A., E. Monnin, B. Stauffer, T.F. Stocker, M. Wahlen, 1999, Atmospheric CO2 concentration from 60 to 20 kyr BP from the Taylor Dome ice core, Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters, 27, 735-738.

Monnin, E., A. Indermuhle, A. Dallenbach, J. Fluckiger, B. Stauffer, T.F. Stocker, D. Raynaud, and J.-M. Barnola. 2001. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations over the last glacial termination. Science, Vol. 291, pp. 112-114.

Petit, J.R., J. Jouzel, D. Raynaud, N.I. Barkov, J.-M. Barnola, I. Basile, M. Benders, J. Chappellaz, M. Davis, G. Delayque, M. Delmotte, V.M. Kotlyakov, M. Legrand, V.Y. Lipenkov, C. Lorius, L. Pepin, C. Ritz, E. Saltzman, and M. Stievenard. 1999. Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 years from the Vostok ice core, Antarctica. Nature 399: 429-436.

Siegenthaler, U., T.F. Stocker, E. Monnin, D. Luthi, J. Schwander, B. Stauffer, D. Raynaud, J.-M. Barnola, H. Fischer, V. Masson-Delmotte, J. Jouzel. 2005. Stable Carbon Cycle-Climate Relationship During the Late Pleistocene. Science, v. 310 , pp. 1313-1317, 25 November 2005.

GEOGRAPHIC REGION: East Antarctica PERIOD OF RECORD: 800 KYrBP -present

FUNDING SOURCES: This work is a contribution to the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA), a joint European Science Foundation/European Commission scientific program, funded by the European Commission and by national contributions from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. We acknowledge financial support by the Swiss NSF, the University of Bern, the Swiss Federal Agency of Energy and the French ANR (Agence nationale pour la Recherche; programme PICC).

DESCRIPTION: Carbon dioxide record from the EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) Dome C ice core covering 0 to 800 kyr BP.

EPICA Dome C ice core location: 75 06'S, 123 21'E, 3233m above sea level

These data also available from the Nature Supplementary Materials for Luthi et al. (2008).

NOTE: These data have been revised for an analytical bias as described by Bereiter et al. 2015. Please see the revised EDC and Antarctic composite CO2 records at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/17975
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