[1] A series of oceanic anoxic events (OAEs) occurred in the mid-Cretaceous warm period (120-80 Ma) that have been linked with high rates of organic carbon burial, warm high-and low-latitude temperatures, and sea-level changes. OAEs have been studied individually, but a causal mechanism that connects them has been lacking. We show that peaks in phosphorus accumulation in marine sediments broadly coincide with OAEs 1a, 1b, 1d, 2, and 3, and exhibit a 5-6 Myr periodicity, which for reactive-P is prominent over 100-80 Ma. Oxic-anoxic oscillations of this frequency are also found in a model of the coupled N, P, C, and O 2 biogeochemical cycles. These oscillations are maintained by positive feedbacks between phosphate concentration, biological productivity, and anoxia in the global ocean and counteracting, but slower, negative feedbacks involving changes in atmospheric oxygen. An increase in phosphorus weathering rate above a critical threshold can shift the system into self-sustaining oscillation. This could have been caused by tectonic and volcanic forcing increasing atmospheric CO 2 and global warmth 120-80 Ma, augmented by the rise of flowering plants around 100 Ma. With a plausible forcing scenario, we are able to reproduce the approximate timing of OAEs 1a, 1b, 1d, 2, and 3 in the model.

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The interannual variability of the tropical Atlantic ocean-atmosphere system is examined using 50 years of sea-surface temperature (SST) and re-analysis data, and satellite data when available. A singular value decomposition analysis of 12-to 72-month bandpass filtered SST and zonal wind stress reveals two dominant modes of interannual variability. The SST anomalies are confined to the North Tropical Atlantic (NTA) in the first mode and extend over the equatorial and South Tropical Atlantic in the second mode. No evidence is found for an Atlantic SST dipole. The structure of the first (NTA) mode is examined in detail here, while the second mode has been described in a companion paper. In particular, the relationship of the NTA mode with El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is investigated. There are 12 NTA events (seven warm and five cold) that are associated with ENSO, and 18 NTA events (seven warm and 11 cold) that are independent of ENSO.The ENSO-associated NTA events appear to be a passive response to remote ENSO forcing, mainly via a Pacific-North America (PNA)-like wave train that induces SST anomalies over the NTA through changes in the surface wind and latent heat flux. The NTA anomalies peak four months after ENSO. There does not appear to be an atmospheric response to the NTA SST anomalies as convection over the Atlantic is suppressed by the anomalous Walker circulation due to ENSO.The ENSO-independent NTA events also appear to be induced by an extratropical wave train from the Pacific sector (but one that is independent of Pacific SST), and forcing by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) also contributes. As the event matures, the atmosphere does respond to the NTA SST anomalies, with enhanced convection over the Caribbean and a wave train that propagates northeastward to Europe.

Northern Eurasia is the largest terrestrial reservoir of carbon, and its dynamics and interactions with climate are globally significant. We present five independent estimates of the contemporary carbon balance of central Siberia using three different methodologies: a landscape-ecosystem approach (LEA) that amalgamates comprehensive vegetation, soil, hydrological and morphological information into a Geographical Information System, linked to regression-based estimates of carbon flux; two Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs); and two atmospheric inversions. Apart from one of the DGVMs, all methods produce estimates of the net biome productivity (NBP) that are consistent both amongst themselves and with a range of other estimates. They indicate the region to be a carbon sink with a NBP of 27.5 +/- 7.2 g C m-2 yr-1, which is equivalent to 352 +/- 92 Mt C yr-1 if considered representative for boreal Asia. This is comparable with fossil fuel emissions for the Russian Federation, currently estimated as 427 MtC yr-1, and implies that boreal Asia does not play the major role in the northern hemisphere land sink, typically estimated to be of magnitude 1.5-2.9 Gt C yr-1. The LEA and DGVM approaches produce very different partitioning of NBP into its component fluxes. The DGVMs find net primary production (NPP) to be nearly balanced by heterotrophic respiration, disturbance being a relatively small term pushing the system closer to equilibrium. In the LEA, heterotrophic respiration is significantly less than NPP, and disturbance plays a much larger role in the overall carbon balance. The use in the LEA of observationally based estimates of heterotrophic respiration and fire disturbance, along with a more complete description of disturbance fluxes, suggests that the partitioning derived by the LEA is more likely, and that improved process descriptions and constraints by data are needed in the DGVMs

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