Midlatitude westerlies, atmospheric CO2, and climate change during the ice ages

Abstract

An idealized general circulation model is constructed of the ocean's deep circulation and CO 2 system that explains some of the more puzzling features of glacial‐interglacial CO 2 cycles, including the tight correlation between atmospheric CO 2 and Antarctic temperatures, the lead of Antarctic temperatures over CO 2 at terminations, and the shift of the ocean's δ 13 C minimum from the North Pacific to the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. These changes occur in the model during transitions between on and off states of the southern overturning circulation. We hypothesize that these transitions occur in nature through a positive feedback that involves the midlatitude westerly winds, the mean temperature of the atmosphere, and the overturning of southern deep water. Cold glacial climates seem to have equatorward shifted westerlies, which allow more respired CO 2 to accumulate in the deep ocean. Warm climates like the present have poleward shifted westerlies that flush respired CO 2 out of the deep ocean.