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national science highlight

Analyses of the deep-sea sediment sequence recovered from ODP Site 1143, southern South China Sea, and comparisons with long sequences from over the global ocean reveal a series of ~500 kyr cycles in ∂13C records. These ‘‘supercycles’’ also appear in carbonate preservation records, and the ∂13C maxima are inferred to reflect episodes when the carbon reservoirs and the upper ocean structure in the global ocean experienced profound reorganization, probably induced by changes in phytoplankton and the oceanic ‘‘rain ratio,’’ associated with ‘‘giant diatom’’ blooms in the open ocean. Prediction of the future natural changes of the global climate is compromised without understanding the physical and climatic meaning of the long-term carbon cycles.

~500 kyr ‘‘supercycles’’ in ∂13C records from ODP Site 1143, southern South China Sea (Wang P. et al., Paleoceanography, 2004)