Shifts in Antarctic Intermediate Water properties coincide with atmospheric CO 2 rise across the Mid-Brunhes Event
2026-04-29
Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) is key to the global carbon cycle, yet its influence on past atmospheric CO 2 changes remains unclear. Using multiproxy reconstructions from the data-poor Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean, we examine interglacial AAIW variability in its source region across the Mid-Brunhes Event (MBE), a major CO 2 transition. While surface temperatures remained stable over 600 thousand years, post-MBE AAIW became warmer and saltier, possibly due to reduced iceberg-derived freshwater input. In contrast, colder, fresher pre-MBE AAIW and enhanced thermal stratification may have promoted greater CO 2 uptake and storage. The post-MBE declining sequestration capacity of AAIW, coinciding with rising atmospheric CO 2 , suggests intermediate waters played a critical role in modulating CO 2 , challenging the view that changes in bottom-water processes alone controlled this key climatic transition.