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Abstract Previous studies suggest that meridional migrations of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current may have altered wind-driven upwelling and carbon dioxide degassing in the Southern Ocean during past climate transitions. Here, we report a quantitative and continuous record of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current latitude over the last glacial-interglacial cycle, using biomarker-based reconstructions of surface layer temperature gradient in the southern Indian Ocean. The results show that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current was more equatorward during the ice ages and shifted ~6° poleward at the end of glacial terminations, consistent with Antarctic Circumpolar Current migration playing a role in glacial-interglacial atmospheric carbon dioxide change. Comparing the temporal evolution of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current mean latitude with other observations provides evidence that Earth’s axial tilt affects the strength and latitude range of Southern Ocean wind-driven upwelling, which may explain previously noted deviations in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration from a simple correlation with Antarctic climate. 

Abstract All else equal, if the ocean's “biological [carbon] pump” strengthens, the dissolved oxygen (O₂) content of the ocean interior declines. Confidence is now high that the ocean interior as a whole contained less oxygen during the ice ages. This is strong evidence that the ocean's biological pump stored more carbon in the ocean interior during the ice ages, providing the core of an explanation for the lower atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations of the ice ages. Vollmer et al. (2022,https://doi.org/10.1029/2021PA004339) combine proxies for the oxygen and nutrient content of bottom waters to show that the ocean nutrient reservoir was more completely harnessed by the biological pump during the Last Glacial Maximum, with an increase in the proportion of dissolved nutrients in the ocean interior that were “regenerated” (transported as sinking organic matter from the ocean surface to the interior) rather than “preformed” (transported to the interior as dissolved nutrients by ocean circulation). This points to changes in the Southern Ocean, the dominant source of preformed nutrients in the modern ocean, with an apparent additional contribution from a decline in the preformed nutrient content of North Atlantic‐formed interior water. Vollmer et al. also find a lack of LGM‐to‐Holocene difference in the preformed¹³C/¹²C ratio of dissolved inorganic carbon. This finding may allow future studies to resolve which of the proposed Southern Ocean mechanisms was most responsible for enhanced ocean CO₂storage during the ice ages: (a) coupled changes in ocean circulation and biological productivity, or (b) physical limitations on air‐sea gas exchange.