Bipolar Seesaw of Atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> Between North Pacific and Southern Ocean at Millennial Timescales
Abstract The interhemispheric relation of deep‐water ventilation and surface‐ocean productivity may have played a prominent role in past atmospheric CO 2 regulation. However, how these processes vary on orbital‐millennial timescales remains poorly understood. Here, we present high‐resolution proxy data and model simulations on the variability of biological productivity and deep water circulation for the abyssal northwestern Pacific Ocean spanning 20–60 kyr. We found that enhanced surface productivity increased during Heinrich Stadials (HS) and long term, caused by intensified westerly winds and associated dust fertilization, implying CO 2 extraction from the atmosphere and increased nutrient supply to the euphotic zone. A similar increase in productivity for the Southern Ocean during Heinrich events implies enhanced upwelling and exhalation of CO 2 to the atmosphere, indicative for an interhemispheric carbon cycle seesaw on millennial time scales. However, the longer‐term global cooling demonstrates that deep ocean carbon storage and degassing was predominantly modulated by the North Pacific Ocean.
Authors
- Hai Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5448-8430)
- Wenyue Xia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5313-9861)
- André Bahr (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5890-8773)
- Stefanie Kaboth‐Bahr (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4449-2938)
- Hu Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2054-2256)
- Xu Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1833-9689)
- Qin Wen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0858-3864)
- Zhaoyang Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4105-8682)
- Sev Kender (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4216-3214)
- Yanguang Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4524-2930)
- Michael E Weber (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2175-8980)
- Yi Zhong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4298-8737)
- Chijun Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3668-346X)
- George E. A. Swann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4750-9504)
- Jimin Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3896-1777)
- Keiji Horikawa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0337-0413)
- Wei Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6174-8229)
- Qingsong Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9472-4904)
- Yuxing Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3012-2696)
- Siqi Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6425-1233)
- Sheng Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0257-7379)
- Jingyu Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9810-0455)
Institutions
- Australian National University (AU)
- Planetary Science Institute (US)
- British Antarctic Survey (GB)
- University of Bonn (DE)
- University of Nottingham (GB)
- Nanjing Normal University (CN)
- Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Ministry of Natural Resources (CN)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- University of Exeter (GB)
- Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (CN)
- Southern University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) (CN)
- First Institute of Oceanography (CN)
- Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (CN)
- University of Toyama (JP)
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai) (CN)
- Laoshan Laboratory
- Freie Universität Berlin (DE)
- Shandong University of Science and Technology (CN)
- University of California, Davis (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Published
- 2025-07-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2025gl115758
- Primary Topic
- Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Tongji University
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology
- Southern University of Science and Technology
- Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology