| 1. |
- Alling, Vanja, et al.
(författare)
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Non-conservative behavior of dissolved organic carbon across the Laptev and East Siberian Seas
- 2010
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Ingår i: Global Biogeochemical Cycles. - 0886-6236 .- 1944-9224. ; 24, s. GB4033-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Climate change is expected to have a strong effect on the Eastern Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) region, which includes 40% of the Arctic shelves and comprises the Laptev and East Siberian seas. The largest organic carbon pool, the dissolved organic carbon (DOC), may change significantly due to changes in both riverine inputs and transformation rates; however, the present DOC inventories and transformation patterns are poorly understood. Using samples from the International Siberian Shelf Study 2008, this study examines for the first time DOC removal in Arctic shelf waters with residence times that range from months to years. Removals of up to 10%–20% were found in the Lena River estuary, consistent with earlier studies in this area, where surface waters were shown to have a residence time of approximately 2 months. In contrast, the DOC concentrations showed a strong nonconservative pattern in areas with freshwater residence times of several years. The average losses of DOC were estimated to be 30%–50% during mixing along the shelf, corresponding to a first-order removal rate constant of 0.3 yr−1. These data provide the first observational evidence for losses of DOC in the Arctic shelf seas, and the calculated DOC deficit reflects DOC losses that are higher than recent model estimates for the region. Overall, a large proportion of riverine DOC is removed from the surface waters across the Arctic shelves. Such significant losses must be included in models of the carbon cycle for the Arctic Ocean, especially since the breakdown of terrestrial DOC to CO2 in Arctic shelf seas may constitute a positive feedback mechanism for Arctic climate warming. These data also provide a baseline for considering the effects of future changes in carbon fluxes, as the vast northern carbon-rich permafrost areas draining into the Arctic are affected by global warming.
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| 2. |
- Klaminder, Jonatan, et al.
(författare)
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Lead Contamination of Subarctic Lakes and Its Response to Reduced Atmospheric Fallout : Can the Recovery Process Be Counteracted by the Ongoing Climate Change?
- 2010
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 44:7, s. 2335-2340
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Can a climate-triggered export of old contaminants from the soil alter the lead (Pb) contaminant burden of subarctic lakes? To address this question, we reconstructed the pollution history of three high latitude lakes situated in a region where a recent climatic shift has occurred. Dated sediment records were used as archives of past Pb inputs to the lakes, where the difference in the Pb-206/Pb-207 ratio between atmospheric contaminants (Pb-206/Pb-207 ratio <1.16) and geogenic Pb in the catchment soil (Pb-206/Pb-207 ratio >1.22) were used to trace fluxes of Pb contaminants. Lead contaminants were found in sediments deposited since Roman times. A significant export of Pb from the soil contaminant pool is indicated in two of the lakes surrounded by near-shore permafrost soils. Here, levels of Pb contaminants and Pb-206/Pb-207 ratios of sediments deposited after the 1970s appear not to have been strongly affected by the >= 90% reduction in atmospheric deposition rates and increasing Pb-206/Pb-207 ratios of atmospheric Pb since the 1990s. We concluded that soil processes stimulated by the ongoing climate change at high latitudes might work counteractive to efforts to reduce contaminant levels in subarctic lakes.
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| 3. |
- Vonk, Jorien E., et al.
(författare)
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Molecular and radiocarbon constraints on sources and degradation of terrestrial organic carbon along the Kolyma paleoriver transect, East Siberian Sea
- 2010
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Ingår i: Biogeosciences. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1726-4170 .- 1726-4189. ; 7:10, s. 3153-3166
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Climate warming in northeastern Siberia may induce thaw-mobilization of the organic carbon (OC) now held in permafrost. This study investigated the composition of terrestrial OC exported to Arctic coastal waters to both obtain a natural integration of terrestrial permafrost OC release and to further understand the fate of released carbon in the extensive Siberian Shelf Seas. Application of a variety of elemental, molecular and isotopic (delta C-13 and Delta C-14) analyses of both surface water suspended particulate matter and underlying surface sediments along a 500 km transect from Kolyma River mouth to the mid-shelf of the East Siberian Sea yielded information on the sources, degradation status and transport processes of thaw-mobilized soil OC. A three end-member dual-carbon-isotopic mixing model was applied to deduce the relative contributions from riverine, coastal erosion and marine sources. The mixing model was solved numerically using Monte Carlo simulations to obtain a fair representation of the uncertainties of both end-member composition and the end results. Riverine OC contributions to sediment OC decrease with increasing distance offshore (35 +/- 15 to 13 +/- 9%), whereas coastal erosion OC exhibits a constantly high contribution (51 +/- 11 to 60 +/- 12%) and marine OC increases offshore (9 +/- 7 to 36 +/- 10%). We attribute the remarkably strong imprint of OC from coastal erosion, extending up to similar to 500 km from the coast, to efficient offshoreward transport in these shallow waters presumably through both the benthic boundary layer and ice-rafting. There are also indications of simultaneous selective preservation of erosion OC compared to riverine OC. Molecular degradation proxies and radiocarbon contents indicated a degraded but young (Delta C-14 ca. -60% or ca. 500 C-14 years) terrestrial OC pool in surface water particulate matter, underlain by a less degraded but old (Delta C-14 ca. -500% or ca. 5500 C-14 years) terrestrial OC pool in bottom sediments. We suggest that the terrestrial OC fraction in surface water particulate matter is mainly derived from surface soil and recent vegetation fluvially released as buoyant organic-rich aggregates (e. g., humics), which are subjected to extensive processing during coastal transport. In contrast, terrestrial OC in the underlying sediments is postulated to originate predominantly from erosion of mineral-rich Pleistocene coasts (i.e., yedoma) and inland mineral soils. Sorptive association of this organic matter with mineral particles protects the OC from remineralization and also promotes rapid settling (ballasting) of the OC. Our findings corroborate recent studies by indicating that different Arctic surface soil OC pools exhibit distinguishing susceptibilities to degradation in coastal waters. Consequently, the general postulation of a positive feedback to global warming from degradation of permafrost carbon may be both attenuated (by reburial of one portion) and geographically displaced (degradation of released terrestrial permafrost OC far out over the Arctic shelf seas).
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| 4. |
- Vonk, Jorien Elisabeth, et al.
(författare)
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Selective preservation of old organic carbon fluvially released from sub-arctic soils
- 2010
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 37, s. L11605-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Amplified climate warming in the Arctic may cause thaw-remobilization of its large soil organic carbon (SOC) pool. Here we assess the remobilization and preservation of old SOC by the watershed-integrated radiocarbon signature of molecular SOC markers released from northernmost Scandinavia. The radiocarbon analyses revealed a remarkable fractionation for identical vascular plant markers (∼420‰ or ∼6000 14C years) upon settling from surface water to the underlying sediments. From this, we infer fluvial export of two SOC pools; a young surface peat component, and an old deep mineral soil component. The young pool exists as an easily degradable humic suspension, while the old pool is matrix protected from degradation and ballasted for preferential settling. The two soil types with highest OC in Arctic permafrost evidently exhibit different susceptibilities to degradation. Hence, a significant part of the thaw-released OC may simply be fluvially relocated to sediments instead of being emitted to the atmosphere.
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