Iron in the NEEM ice core relative to Asian loess records over the last glacial–interglacial cycle

Abstract Mineral dust can indirectly affect the climate by supplying bioavailable iron (Fe) to the ocean. Here, we present the records of dissolved Fe (DFe) and total Fe (TDFe) in North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) ice core over the past 110 kyr BP. The Fe records are significantly negatively correlated with the carbon-dioxide (CO2) concentrations during cold periods. The results suggest that the changes in Fe fluxes over the past 110 kyr BP in the NEEM ice core are consistent with those in Chinese loess records because the mineral-dust distribution is controlled by the East Asian deserts. Furthermore, the variations in the dust input on a global scale are most likely driven by changes in solar radiation during the last glacial–interglacial cycle in response to Earth's orbital cycles. In the last glacial–interglacial cycle, the DFe/TDFe ratios were higher during the warm periods (following the post-Industrial Revolution and during the Holocene and last interglacial period) than during the main cold period (i.e. the last glacial maximum (LGM)), indicating that the aeolian input of iron and the iron fertilization effect on the oceans have a non-linear relationship during different periods. Although the burning of biomass aerosols has released large amounts of DFe since the Industrial Revolution, no significant responses are observed in the DFe and TDFe variations during this period, indicating that severe anthropogenic contamination has no significant effect on the DFe (TDFe) release in the NEEM ice core.

[1]  H. Stoll.  30 years of the iron hypothesis of ice ages , 2020, Nature.

[2]  M. N. Aita,et al.  Responses of ocean biogeochemistry to atmospheric supply of lithogenic and pyrogenic iron-containing aerosols , 2019, Geological Magazine.

[3]  Matthew S. Johnson,et al.  Pyrogenic iron: The missing link to high iron solubility in aerosols , 2019, Science Advances.

[4]  A. Abe‐Ouchi,et al.  Glacial CO2 decrease and deep-water deoxygenation by iron fertilization from glaciogenic dust , 2019, Climate of the Past.

[5]  M. Frey,et al.  Greenland records of aerosol source and atmospheric lifetime changes from the Eemian to the Holocene , 2018, Nature Communications.

[6]  N. Mahowald,et al.  Comments on ‘Influence of measurement uncertainties on fractional solubility of iron in mineral aerosols over the oceans’ Aeolian Research 22, 85–92 , 2017 .

[7]  R. Harrison,et al.  Air pollution–aerosol interactions produce more bioavailable iron for ocean ecosystems , 2017, Science Advances.

[8]  Jae-Hyun Lim,et al.  Spatial and temporal variabilities of spring Asian dust events and their impacts on chlorophyll‐a concentrations in the western North Pacific Ocean , 2017 .

[9]  P. Boyd,et al.  Marine phytoplankton and the changing ocean iron cycle , 2016 .

[10]  A. Bowie,et al.  Multiple sources of soluble atmospheric iron to Antarctic waters , 2016 .

[11]  J. Kovács,et al.  Two possible source regions for central Greenland last glacial dust , 2015 .

[12]  Tadahiro Hayasaka,et al.  Short-cut transport path for Asian dust directly to the Arctic: a case study , 2015 .

[13]  R. Röthlisberger,et al.  Millennial changes in North American wildfire and soil activity over the last glacial cycle , 2015 .

[14]  Yan Yan,et al.  Multiscale monsoon variability during the last two climatic cycles revealed by spectral signals in Chinese loess and speleothem records , 2015 .

[15]  R. Röthlisberger,et al.  Constraints on soluble aerosol iron flux to the Southern Ocean at the Last Glacial Maximum , 2015, Nature Communications.

[16]  P. Sedwick,et al.  An overview of dissolved Fe and Mn distributions during the 2010-2011 U.S. GEOTRACES north Atlantic cruises: GEOTRACES GA03 , 2015 .

[17]  H. Fischer,et al.  A stratigraphic framework for abrupt climatic changes during the Last Glacial period based on three synchronized Greenland ice-core records: refining and extending the INTIMATE event stratigraphy , 2014 .

[18]  J. McConnell,et al.  Fire in ice: two millennia of boreal forest fire history from the Greenland NEEM ice core , 2014 .

[19]  P. Statham,et al.  Ice sheets as a significant source of highly reactive nanoparticulate iron to the oceans , 2014, Nature Communications.

[20]  H. Fu,et al.  Fractional iron solubility of aerosol particles enhanced by biomass burning and ship emission in Shanghai, East China. , 2014, The Science of the total environment.

[21]  A. Bory,et al.  A Chinese imprint in insoluble pollutants recently deposited in central Greenland as indicated by lead isotopes. , 2014, Environmental science & technology.

[22]  M. Charette,et al.  Greenland meltwater as a significant and potentially bioavailable source of iron to the ocean , 2013 .

[23]  Kenji Kawamura,et al.  Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core , 2013, Nature.

[24]  J. Gabrieli,et al.  Iron fluxes to Talos Dome, Antarctica, over the past 200 kyr , 2012 .

[25]  P. Gabrielli,et al.  Levoglucosan as a specific marker of fire events in Greenland snow , 2012 .

[26]  M. Schwikowski,et al.  An ice-core based history of Siberian forest fires since AD 1250 , 2011 .

[27]  P. Boyd,et al.  The biogeochemical cycle of iron in the ocean , 2010 .

[28]  S. Clemens,et al.  Impacts of post-depositional processes on rapid monsoon signals recorded by the last glacial loess deposits of northern China , 2010 .

[29]  P. Formenti,et al.  Chemical characterisation of iron in dust and biomass burning aerosols during AMMA-SOP0/DABEX: implication for iron solubility , 2009 .

[30]  A. Schroth,et al.  Iron solubility driven by speciation in dust sources to the ocean , 2009 .

[31]  A. Berger,et al.  Strong asymmetry of hemispheric climates during MIS-13 inferred from correlating China loess and Antarctica ice records , 2008 .

[32]  Marie-Louise Siggaard-Andersen,et al.  High-Resolution Greenland Ice Core Data Show Abrupt Climate Change Happens in Few Years , 2008, Science.

[33]  Xiaohua Shao,et al.  Millennial- and orbital-scale changes in the East Asian monsoon over the past 224,000 years , 2008, Nature.

[34]  R. Röthlisberger,et al.  Ice core evidence for a very tight link between North Atlantic and east Asian glacial climate , 2007 .

[35]  P. Sedwick,et al.  Iron in ice cores from Law Dome: A record of atmospheric iron deposition for maritime East Antarctica during the Holocene and Last Glacial Maximum , 2006 .

[36]  T. Jickells,et al.  Mineral particle size as a control on aerosol iron solubility , 2006 .

[37]  P. Huybers.  Early Pleistocene Glacial Cycles and the Integrated Summer Insolation Forcing , 2006, Science.

[38]  P. Gabrielli,et al.  Atmospheric iron fluxes over the last deglaciation: Climatic implications , 2006 .

[39]  N. Mahowald,et al.  Global Iron Connections Between Desert Dust, Ocean Biogeochemistry, and Climate , 2005, Science.

[40]  F. Joos,et al.  Ice core evidence for the extent of past atmospheric CO2 change due to iron fertilisation , 2004 .

[41]  A. Bory,et al.  Regional variability of ice core dust composition and provenance in Greenland , 2003 .

[42]  A. Shiller.  Syringe filtration methods for examining dissolved and colloidal trace element distributions in remote field locations. , 2003, Environmental science & technology.

[43]  J. Steffensen,et al.  Continuous record of microparticle concentration and size distribution in the central Greenland NGRIP ice core during the last glacial period , 2003 .

[44]  I. Prentice,et al.  Seasonal and interannual variability of the mineral dust cycle under present and glacial climate conditions , 2002 .

[45]  P. Mayewski,et al.  A 1400-year high-resolution record of atmospheric circulation over the North Atlantic and Asia , 2002 .

[46]  Shuzhen Peng,et al.  Onset of Asian desertification by 22 Myr ago inferred from loess deposits in China , 2002, Nature.

[47]  R. L. Edwards,et al.  A High-Resolution Absolute-Dated Late Pleistocene Monsoon Record from Hulu Cave, China , 2001, Science.

[48]  P. Sedwick,et al.  Iron in East Antarctic snow: Implications for atmospheric iron deposition and algal production in Antarctic waters , 2001 .

[49]  H. Kawahata,et al.  Fluctuations of eolian flux and ocean productivity in the mid-latitude north Pacific during the last 200 kyr , 2000 .

[50]  F. Grousset,et al.  Characterization of late glacial continental dust in the Greenland Ice Core Project ice core , 2000 .

[51]  E. Wolff,et al.  Timescales for dust variability in the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) ice core in the last 100,000 years , 1999 .

[52]  Wallace S. Broecker,et al.  PALEOCEAN CIRCULATION DURING THE LAST DEGLACIATION : A BIPOLAR SEESAW ? , 1998 .

[53]  Francis E. Grousset,et al.  Asian provenance of glacial dust (stage 2) in the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 Ice Core , 1997 .

[54]  M. Ram,et al.  Continuous dust concentration profile of pre‐Holocene ice from the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 ice core: Dust stadials, interstadials, and the Eemian , 1997 .

[55]  J. Guiot,et al.  High frequency pulses of East Asian monsoon climate in the last two glaciations: link with the North Atlantic , 1996 .

[56]  M. Legrand,et al.  High‐resolution ammonium ice core record covering a complete glacial‐interglacial cycle , 1996 .

[57]  P. Mayewski,et al.  Complexity of Holocene Climate as Reconstructed from a Greenland Ice Core , 1995, Science.

[58]  A. Zhisheng,et al.  Correlation between climate events in the North Atlantic and China during the last glaciation , 1995, Nature.

[59]  P. Mayewski,et al.  An ice‐core‐based record of biomass burning in the Arctic and Subarctic, 1750–1980 , 1994 .

[60]  W. Broecker,et al.  Correlations between climate records from North Atlantic sediments and Greenland ice , 1993, Nature.

[61]  J. Jouzel,et al.  Evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250-kyr ice-core record , 1993, Nature.

[62]  Robert A. Duce,et al.  Link between iron and sulphur cycles suggested by detection of Fe(n) in remote marine aerosols , 1992, Nature.

[63]  John H. Martin.  glacial-interglacial Co2 change : the iron hypothesis , 1990 .

[64]  N. Pisias,et al.  A direct link between the China loess and marine δ18O records: aeolian flux to the north Pacific , 1989, Nature.

[65]  Z. An.  Late Cenozoic Climate Change in Asia: Loess, Monsoon and Monsoon-arid Environment Evolution , 2014 .