Orbital and millennial-scale features of atmospheric CH4 over the past 800,000 years

Laetitia Loulergue, Adrian Schilt, Renato Spahni, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Thomas Blunier, Bénédicte Lemieux, Jean-Marc Barnola, Dominique Raynaud, Thomas F. Stocker and Jérôme Chappellaz ()
Additional contact information
Laetitia Loulergue: Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement, CNRS-Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble, 54 Rue Molière, 38402 St Martin d'Hères, France
Adrian Schilt: Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland, and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Erlachstrasse 9a, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
Renato Spahni: Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland, and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Erlachstrasse 9a, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
Valérie Masson-Delmotte: Institut Pierre Simon Laplace/Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, CEA-CNRS-University Versailles-Saint Quentin, CE Saclay, Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Thomas Blunier: Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland, and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Erlachstrasse 9a, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
Bénédicte Lemieux: Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement, CNRS-Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble, 54 Rue Molière, 38402 St Martin d'Hères, France
Jean-Marc Barnola: Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement, CNRS-Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble, 54 Rue Molière, 38402 St Martin d'Hères, France
Dominique Raynaud: Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement, CNRS-Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble, 54 Rue Molière, 38402 St Martin d'Hères, France
Thomas F. Stocker: Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland, and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Erlachstrasse 9a, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
Jérôme Chappellaz: Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement, CNRS-Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble, 54 Rue Molière, 38402 St Martin d'Hères, France

Nature, 2008, vol. 453, issue 7193, 383-386

Abstract: Cover caption The air bubbles trapped in the Antarctic Vostok and EPICA Dome C ice cores provide composite records of levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane covering the past 650,000 years. Now the record of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane concentrations has been extended by two more complete glacial cycles to 800,000 years ago. The new data are from the lowest 200 metres of the Dome C core. This ice core went down to just a few metres above bedrock at a depth of 3,260 metres. Two papers report analyses of this deep ice, including the lowest carbon dioxide concentration so far measured in an ice core. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is strongly correlated with Antarctic temperature throughout the eight glacial cycles, but with significantly lower concentrations between 650,000 and 750,000 years before present. The cover shows a strip of ice core from an Antarctic ice core from Berkner Island, this slice from a depth of 120 metres. Photo by Chris Gilbert, British Antarctic Survey. Elsewhere in this issue, we move from climates past to future plans for climate prediction.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06950

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