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Climate forcing implications from Vostok ice-core sulphate data

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Abstract

The hypothesis that the number concentration of cloud condensation nuclei (mainly the sulphate particles produced by the oxidation of dimethylsulphide emitted from the ocean1) influences marine stratus cloud albedo, and hence global climate2, is examined using the non-seasalt sulphate (nss-SO2–4) profile that was recently obtained3 along the 160 kyr Vostok (Antarctica) ice core. The deduced 20–46% increase in nss-SO2–4 content in the Antarctic atmosphere during full glacial (compared with interglacial) conditions is consistent with higher dimethylsulphide emissions from marine biota productivity. Similar spectral features and correlation of CO2 and nss-SO2–4 suggest a global significance for these changes, and a possible link between CO2 and dimethylsulphide emissions. Assuming that the global average number population of cloud condensation nuclei is proportional to nss-SO2–4 in the Antarctic atmosphere, a global radiative cooling at the surface of up to 1 K would result, reinforcing the effect of CO2 (˜0.6K; ref. 4) and of total insolation changes5 (0.2 K).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de I'Environnement, BP 96, 38402, St Martin d'Hères cedex, France

    M. R. Legrand & R. J. Delmas

  2. Department of Atmospheric Sciences AK-40, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195, USA

    R. J. Charlson

Authors
  1. M. R. Legrand
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  2. R. J. Delmas
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  3. R. J. Charlson
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Legrand, M., Delmas, R. & Charlson, R. Climate forcing implications from Vostok ice-core sulphate data. Nature 334, 418–420 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/334418a0

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