Atmospheric CO₂ and climate from 65 to 30 ka B.P.

Using new and existing ice core CO 2 data from 65 ∼ 30 ka a new chronology for CO 2 is established and synchronized with Greenland ice core records to study how high latitude climate change and the carbon cycle were linked during the last glacial period. Atmospheric CO 2 rose several thousand years before abrupt warming in Greenland associated with Dansgaard‐Oeschger events, 8, 12, 14, 17, four large warm events that follow Heinrich events. The CO 2 rise terminated at the onset of Greenland warming for each of these events. Atmospheric CO 2 is strongly correlated with the Antarctic isotopic temperature proxy with an average time lag of 720 ± 370 yr (mean ± 1 σ ) during the time interval studied. The new data and chronology should provide a better target for models attempting to explain CO 2 variability and abrupt climate change.