Atmospheric Methane and Nitrous Oxide of the Late Pleistocene from Antarctic Ice Cores
Year: 2005
Type: article
Abstract: The European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica Dome C ice core enables us to extend existing records of atmospheric methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) back to 650,000 years before the present. A combined record of CH4 measured along the Dome C and the Vostok ice cores demonstrates, within the resolution of our measurements, that preindustrial concentrations over Antarctica have not exceeded 773 +/- 15 ppbv (parts per billion by volume) during the past 650,000 years. Before 420,000 years ago, when interglacials were cooler, maximum CH4 concentrations were only about 600 ppbv, similar to lower Holocene values. In contrast, the N2O record shows maximum concentrations of 278 +/- 7 ppbv, slightly higher than early Holocene values.
Source: Science
Institutions: University of Bern, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Joseph Fourier, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, CEA Paris-Saclay, Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l’Environnement
Language: English
Subfield: Atmospheric Science
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2108930516