Contribution of Southern Ocean surface-water stratification to low atmospheric CO₂ concentrations during the last glacial period

The nitrogen-isotope record preserved in Southern Ocean sediments, along with several geochemical tracers for the settling fluxes of biogenic matter, reveals patterns of past nutrient supply to phytoplankton and surface-water stratification in this oceanic region. Areal averaging of these spatial patterns indicates that reduction of the CO₂ 'leak' from ocean to atmosphere by increased surface-water stratification south of the Polar Front made a greater contribution to the lowering of atmospheric CO₂ concentration during the Last Glacial Maximum than did the increased export of organic carbon from surface to deep waters occurring further north.