An international team of researchers, including scientists from the University of Auckland, has found that there was a sudden release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at the end of the last ice age, which means that the same might occur as global warming continues.
The research suggested that the event may have been confined to the Pacific region, suggesting the Pacific ocean could be even more influential than thought.
An excerpt: (read in full here)
“”We know that carbon dioxide cycles between the oceans and the atmosphere and that rising global temperatures cause the release of carbon dioxide from the deep ocean into the air,” said Auckland University researcher Dr Phil Shane.
“”But we found the release of carbon dioxide from the Southern Ocean at the end of the last Ice Age was much faster than anticipated – on a scale of hundreds rather than thousands of years.””