NGRIP Ice Core 120-11KYrBP Nitrous Oxide Data Schilt, A.; Baumgartner, M.; Eicher, O.; Chappellaz, J.A.; Schwander, J.; Fischer, H.; Stocker, T.F. Schilt, A. Baumgartner, M. Eicher, O. Chappellaz, J.A. Schwander, J. Fischer, H. Stocker, T.F. earth science/paleoclimate/ice cores (notes,null,null,null,null,ice cores,null,null,C,null) earth science/paleoclimate/climate forcing|ice cores (nitrous oxide,bulk atmosphere,null,parts per billion,null,climate forcing|ice cores,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/climate forcing|ice cores (nitrous oxide,bulk atmosphere,one standard error,parts per billion,null,climate forcing|ice cores,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/ice cores (depth,null,null,meter,null,ice cores,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/ice cores (gas age,null,null,calendar year before present,null,ice cores,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/ice core (NGRIP>LATITUDE 75.1>LONGITUDE -42.33) Reconstructions of past atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases provide unique insight into the biogeochemical cycles and the past radiative forcing in the Earth's climate system. We present new measurements of atmospheric nitrous oxide along the ice cores of the North Greenland Ice Core Project and Talos Dome sites. Using records of several other ice cores, we are now able to establish the first complete composite nitrous oxide record reaching back to the beginning of the previous interglacial about 140,000 yr ago. On the basis of such composite ice core records, we further calculate the radiative forcing of the three most important greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide during more than a full glacial-interglacial cycle. Nitrous oxide varies in line with climate, reaching very low concentrations of about 200 parts per billion by volume during Marine Isotope Stages 4 and 2, and showing substantial responses to millennial time scale climate variations during the last glacial. A large part of these millennial time scale variations can be explained by parallel changes in the sources of methane and nitrous oxide. However, as revealed by high-resolution measurements covering the Dansgaard/Oeschger events 17 to 15, the evolution of these two greenhouse gases may be decoupled on the centennial time scale. Carbon dioxide and methane concentrations do not reach interglacial levels in the course of millennial time scale climate variations during the last glacial. In contrast, nitrous oxide often reaches interglacial concentrations in response to both, glacial terminations and Dansgaard/Oeschger events. This indicates, from a biogeochemical point of view, similar drivers in both temporal cases. While carbon dioxide and methane concentrations are more strongly controlled by climate changes in high latitudes, nitrous oxide emissions changes may mainly stem from the ocean and/or from soils located at low latitudes. Accordingly, we speculate that high latitudes could play the leading role to trigger glacial terminations. STUDY NOTES: Nitrous Oxide (N2O) record from the North Greenland Ice Sheet. Age model is AICC2012_official gas age scale according to Bazin et al. 2013 and Veres et al. 2013 NCDC-Paleoclimatology https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data - Bauer Bruce Investigator : Schilt, A. Investigator : Baumgartner, M. Investigator : Eicher, O. Investigator : Chappellaz, J.A. Investigator : Schwander, J. Investigator : Fischer, H. Investigator : Stocker, T.F. 2013-09-03 ONLINE Files online, ASCII https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/14828 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/icecore/greenland/summit/ngrip/gases/ngrip2013n2o.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/icecore/greenland/summit/ngrip/gases/ngrip2013n2o.txt English https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/14828 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/icecore/greenland/summit/ngrip/gases/ngrip2013n2o.txt Schilt, A., M. Baumgartner, J. Schwander, D. Buiron, E. Capron, J. Chappellaz, L. Loulergue, S. Schüpbach, R. Spahni, H. Fischer, and T.F. Stocker. 2010. Atmospheric nitrous oxide during the last 140,000 years. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 300, pp. 33-43. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.09.027 Adrian Schilt, Matthias Baumgartner, Olivier Eicher, Jérôme Chappellaz, Jakob Schwander, Hubertus Fischer, Thomas F. Stocker. 2013. The response of atmospheric nitrous oxide to climate variations during the last glacial period. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 40, Issue 9, pp. 1888-1893. DOI: 10.1002/grl.50380 Flückiger, Jacqueline, Thomas Blunier, Bernhard Stauffer, Jérôme Chappellaz, Renato Spahni, Kenji Kawamura, Jakob Schwander, Thomas F. Stocker and Dorthe Dahl-Jensen. 2004. N2O and CH4 variations during the last glacial epoch: Insight into global processes. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 18(1). DOI: 10.1029/2003GB002122 START YEAR: 119555 cal yr BP * END YEAR: 11067 cal yr BP -42.33 75.1 -42.33 75.1