Record Details

Abrupt changes in atmospheric methane at the MIS 5b–5a transition

ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University

Field Value
Title Abrupt changes in atmospheric methane at the MIS 5b–5a transition
Names Grachev, Alexi M. (creator)
Brook, Edward J. (creator)
Severinghaus, Jeffrey P. (creator)
Date Issued 2007 (iso8601)
Note This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the American Geophysical Union and can be found at: http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/.
Abstract New ice core analyses show that the prominent rise in atmospheric methane concentration at Dansgaard-Oeschger event 21 was interrupted by a century-long 20% decline, which was previously unrecognized. The reversal was found in a new ∼100-year resolution study of methane in the GISP2 ice core, encompassing the beginning of D-O event 21, which also corresponds to the transition from MIS 5b to 5a. Although a corresponding reversal (within age uncertainty) is observed in climate proxies measured in GISP2 ice, including δ¹⁸O[subscript ice], electrical conductivity, light scattering, and several ions, this feature has not been discussed previously. Abrupt changes in methane are paralleled by changes in δ¹⁵N of trapped air, a quantity that reflects local temperature change at Greenland summit. The reversal described here supports the hypothesis that climate can be unstable during major transitions, as was previously described for the last deglaciation.
Genre Article
Identifier Grachev, A. M., E. J. Brook, and J. P. Severinghaus (2007), Abrupt changes in atmospheric methane at the MIS 5b–5a transition, Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L20703, doi:10.1029/2007GL029799.

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