OCEAN-14 is a NERC-funded project (2014-2017) that makes use of benthic and planktonic foraminifer radiocarbon measurements throughout the global ocean to resolve the evolution of the marine radiocarbon inventory over the last ~30,000 yrs. This project makes use of radiocarbon as a carbon cycle tracer to elucidate the ocean’s role in carbon cycling and atmospheric CO2 change over the last deglaciation, including the sub-millennial climate events that occurred during deglaciation.

The main scientific objectives of OCEAN-14 are: 1) to deliver a significant increase in the quality and size of the marine radiocarbon observational framework spanning the last 30,000 years; and 2) to use these data to place unique constraints on the role of the ocean’s overturning circulation in the major carbon cycle perturbations that contributed to the climate of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and its evolution across the last deglaciation.

This project is nearing completion, and a significant portion of our results are available through the publications listed below, with several more yet to come!

Participants: L Skinner (PI), A. Scrivner (RA), F. Primeau (UCI, project partner).

Relevant publications:

Skinner, L. C. and E. Bard (2022). Radiocarbon as a Dating Tool and Tracer in Paleoceanography. Reviews of Geophysics 60(1): e2020RG000720.

Skinner, L., E. Freeman, D. Hodell, C. Waelbroeck, N. Vasquez Riveiros and A. Scrivner (2021). Atlantic Ocean ventilation changes across the last deglaciation and their carbon cycle implications. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology.

Skinner, L. C. and Primeau, F. and Freeman, E. and de la Fuente, M. and Goodwin, P. A. and Gottschalk, Julia and Huang, E.and McCave, I. N. and Noble, T. L. and Scrivner, A. E. (2017) Radiocarbon constraints on the glacial ocean circulation and its impact on atmospheric CO2. Nature Communications, 8. p. 16010. ISSN 2041-1723 DOI 10.1038/ncomms16010

Freeman, E. and Skinner, L. C. and Waelbroeck, C. and Hodell, D. (2016) Radiocarbon evidence for enhanced respired carbon storage in the Atlantic at the Last Glacial Maximum. Nature Communications, 7. ISSN 2041-1723 DOI 10.1038/ncomms11998

Skinner, L. and McCave, I. N. and Carter, L. and Fallon, S. and Scrivner, A. E. and Primeau, F. (2015) Reduced ventilation and enhanced magnitude of the deep Pacific carbon pool during the last glacial period. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 411. pp. 45-52. ISSN 0012-821X DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.11.024

Freeman, E. and Skinner, L. C. and Tisserand, A. and Dokken, T. and Timmermann, A. and Menviel, L. and Friedrich, T.(2015) An Atlantic–Pacific ventilation seesaw across the last deglaciation. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 424. pp. 237-244. ISSN 0012-821X DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2015.05.032

de la Fuente, Maria and Skinner, Luke and Calvo, Eva and Pelejero, Carles and Cacho, Isabel (2015) Increased reservoir ages and poorly ventilated deep waters inferred in the glacial Eastern Equatorial Pacific. Nature Communications, 6. p. 7420. ISSN 2041-1723 DOI 10.1038/ncomms8420