Southern hemisphere influence on the stability of the global thermocline: the radiocarbon record of abrupt change in the ocean´s interior

The stability of the ocean´s global thermohaline circulation looms as one of the most prominent sources of uncertainty in any projection of future climate change: the deep sea sedimentary record of the Pleistocene demonstrates that the ocean had the capacity to undergo dramatic and abrupt changes in state. The use of radiocarbon may allow the reconstruction of ocean ventilation processes over the periods of abrupt change in the late Pleistocene.