Carbon Isotope Chemistry of the Southern Ocean

This renewal grant will assess the role of the Southern Ocean in changing the vertical nutrient tracer distributions during the last glacial maximum and the last deglaciation. To understand this completely, one must understand the role of the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) on the Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW). According, the chemical history of pure (AAIW) will be reconstructed using cores collected off the western Tasmanian slope. A number of key points can be answered, including the amount of CO2 pumped to the atmosphere via the AAIW, the history of the Southern Ocean nutrient chemistry and production can be evaluated, etc.