Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 29, 2025

Measuring Carbon-based Contaminant Mineralization Using Combined CO2 Flux and Radiocarbon Analyses
Published on: October 21, 2016
Deglacial Subantarctic CO2 outgassing driven by a weakened solubility pump
Yuhao Dai1,2, Jimin Yu3,4, Haojia Ren5
1Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia. yuhao.dai@geol.lu.se.
Abstract:
The Subantarctic Southern Ocean has long been thought to be an important contributor to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO2) during glacial-interglacial transitions. Extensive studies suggest that a weakened biological pump, a process associated with nutrient utilization efficiency, drove up surface-water pCO2 in this region during deglaciations. By contrast, regional influences of the solubility pump, a process mainly linked to temperature variations, have been largely overlooked. Here, we evaluate relative roles of the biological and solubility pumps in determining surface-water pCO2 variabilities in the Subantarctic Southern Ocean during the last deglaciation, based on paired reconstructions of surface-water pCO2, temperature, and nutrient utilization efficiency. We show that compared to the biological pump, the solubility pump imposed a strong impact on deglacial Subantarctic surface-water pCO2 variabilities. Our findings therefore reveal a previously underappreciated role of the solubility pump in modulating deglacial Subantarctic CO2 release and possibly past atmospheric pCO2 fluctuations.
More Related Videos
10:18Dynamic Pore-scale Reservoir-condition Imaging of Reaction in Carbonates Using Synchrotron Fast Tomography
Published on: February 21, 2017
07:32Monitoring Pedogenic Inorganic Carbon Accumulation Due to Weathering of Amended Silicate Minerals in Agricultural Soils.
Published on: June 4, 2021
Related Concept Videos
Global Climate Change
Phase Transitions: Sublimation and Deposition
Carbon-dioxide Fixation
Factors Affecting Solubility
Physical Properties Affecting Solubility
As for any solution, the solubility of a gas in a liquid is affected by the attractive intermolecular forces between solute and solvent species. Unlike solid and liquid solutes, however, there is no solute-solute intermolecular attraction to overcome when a gaseous solute dissolves in a liquid solvent since the atoms or molecules comprising a gas are far separated and experience negligible interactions. Consequently, solute-solvent interactions are the sole...
Turbulent Flow: Problem Solving
Temperature is a key factor in CO2 solubility. In this case, the CO2 gas and the liquid are cooled to 20°C. Lower temperatures...