Landais, A.Dreyfus, G.Capron, E.Jouzel, J.Masson-Delmotte, V.Roche, D. M.Prie, F.Caillon, N.Chappellaz, J.Leuenberger, M.Lourantou, A.Parrenin, F.Raynaud, D.Teste, G.2022-11-232022-11-232022-11-232013-10-2010.1038/ngeo1985https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/192718WOS:000327799500022The end of the Last Glacial Maximum (Termination I), roughly 20 thousand years ago (ka), was marked by cooling in the Northern Hemisphere, a weakening of the Asian monsoon, a rise in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations and warming over Antarctica. The sequence of events associated with the previous glacial-interglacial transition (Termination II), roughly 136 ka, is less well constrained. Here we present high-resolution records of atmospheric CO 2 concentrations and isotopic composition of N 2 - an atmospheric temperature proxy - from air bubbles in the EPICA Dome C ice core that span Termination II. We find that atmospheric CO 2 concentrations and Antarctic temperature started increasing in phase around 136 ka, but in a second phase of Termination II, from 130.5 to 129 ka, the rise in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations lagged that of Antarctic temperature unequivocally. We suggest that during this second phase, the intensification of the low-latitude hydrological cycle resulted in the development of a CO 2 sink, which counteracted the CO 2 outgassing from the Southern Hemisphere oceans over this period. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited.air bubblecarbon dioxidecarbon sinkconcentration (composition)coolingglacial-interglacial cycleglobal climatehydrological cycleisotopic compositionLast Glacial MaximumNorthern Hemispherepaleoclimateproxy climate recordSouthern HemisphereAntarcticatext::journal::journal article::research article