Large Variations in Southern Hemisphere Biomass Burning During the Last 650 Years

Burn, Baby, Burn The atmospheric trace gas, carbon monoxide, has important effects on methane and on ozone, and is important both in atmospheric chemistry and for its indirect influence on climate. Little is known about the abundance and sources of CO prior to the industrial age, or about the importance of anthropogenic activities on its budget. Wang et al. (p. 1663, published online 2 December; see the Perspective by Prentice) present a 650-year-long record of CO atmospheric concentration and isotopic composition, using samples from Antarctic ice cores, in order to begin to reconstruct past CO variability and its causes. The concentration of CO decreased by ∼25% from the mid-1300s to the 1600s, and then recovered completely by the late 1800s. Large variations in the degree of biomass burning in the Southern Hemisphere are likely to have been primarily responsible for the observed changes. Large variations in the degree of biomass burning in the Southern Hemisphere occurred during the past 650 years. We present a 650-year Antarctic ice core record of concentration and isotopic ratios (δ13C and δ18O) of atmospheric carbon monoxide. Concentrations decreased by ~25% (14 parts per billion by volume) from the mid-1300s to the 1600s then recovered completely by the late 1800s. δ13C and δ18O decreased by about 2 and 4 per mil (‰), respectively, from the mid-1300s to the 1600s then increased by about 2.5 and 4‰ by the late 1800s. These observations and isotope mass balance model results imply that large variations in the degree of biomass burning in the Southern Hemisphere occurred during the last 650 years, with a decrease by about 50% in the 1600s, an increase of about 100% by the late 1800s, and another decrease by about 70% from the late 1800s to present day.

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