| 1. |
- Clement Kinney, J., et al.
(författare)
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On the circulation, water mass distribution, and nutrient concentrations of the western Chukchi Sea
- 2022
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Ingår i: Ocean Science. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1812-0784 .- 1812-0792. ; 18:1, s. 29-49
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Substantial amounts of nutrients and carbon enter the Arctic Ocean from the Pacific Ocean through the Bering Strait, distributed over three main pathways. Water with low salinities and nutrient concentrations takes an eastern route along the Alaskan coast, as Alaskan Coastal Water. A central pathway exhibits intermediate salinity and nutrient concentrations, while the most nutrient-rich water enters the Bering Strait on its western side. Towards the Arctic Ocean, the flow of these water masses is subject to strong topographic steering within the Chukchi Sea with volume transport modulated by the wind field. In this contribution, we use data from several sections crossing Herald Canyon collected in 2008 and 2014 together with numerical modelling to investigate the circulation and transport in the western part of the Chukchi Sea. We find that a substantial fraction of water from the Chukchi Sea enters the East Siberian Sea south of Wrangel Island and circulates in an anticyclonic direction around the island. This water then contributes to the high-nutrient waters of Herald Canyon. The bottom of the canyon has the highest nutrient concentrations, likely as a result of addition from the degradation of organic matter at the sediment surface in the East Siberian Sea. The flux of nutrients (nitrate, phosphate, and silicate) and dissolved inorganic carbon in Bering Summer Water and Winter Water is computed by combining hydrographic and nutrient observations with geostrophic transport referenced to lowered acoustic Doppler current profiler (LADCP) and surface drift data. Even if there are some general similarities between the years, there are differences in both the temperature-salinity and nutrient characteristics. To assess these differences, and also to get a wider temporal and spatial view, numerical modelling results are applied. According to model results, high-frequency variability dominates the flow in Herald Canyon. This leads us to conclude that this region needs to be monitored over a longer time frame to deduce the temporal variability and potential trends. © 2022 Jaclyn Clement Kinney et al.
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| 2. |
- Grinko, A. A., et al.
(författare)
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Sediment Organic Matter in Areas of Intense Methane Release in the Laptev Sea : Characteristics of Molecular Composition
- 2020
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Ingår i: Russian Geology and Geophysics. - 1068-7971 .- 1878-030X. ; 61:4, s. 456-477
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present results of study of the molecular composition of organic matter (OM) in the bottom sediments of the Laptev Sea by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, isotope gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and Rock-Eval pyrolytic analysis. The OM of all collected sediment samples shows a significant terrigenous contribution. Compounds that are biomarkers of methanotrophic microorganisms arc also found. A positive correlation between the contents of the studied biomarkers and the contents of pelite and total organic carbon is observed at the sites with documented intense methane bubbling. For example, the average content of C30 hopenes at the methane stations is twice higher than that at the background ones. The average content of C32 alpha beta-hopanes in sediment samples from the methane seepage area is 1.5 tunes higher than that at the background stations. We suggest that the increased C30 alpha beta-hopane content (similar to 1.5 times higher within the methane seepage area) and the decreased more index relative to the C31 hopane index are due to the inflow of OM of petroleum origin. The presence of biphenyl in sediments indicates its petroleum origin, which supports our assumption of the migratory nature of petroleum hydrocarbons in the methane seepage area. Triterpenoids found in the sediment OM indicate diagenetic bacterial transformation of OM in the methane seepage areas, which shows that methane has been released for a long time. We assume the intense activity of the consortium of methanotrophs and sulfate reducers in the methane seepage areas.
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| 3. |
- Chuvilin, E., et al.
(författare)
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In-situ temperatures and thermal properties of the East Siberian Arctic shelf sediments : Key input for understanding the dynamics of subsea permafrost
- 2022
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Ingår i: Marine and Petroleum Geology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0264-8172 .- 1873-4073. ; 138
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Significant reserves of methane (CH4) are held in the Arctic shelf, but the release of CH4 to the overlying ocean and, subsequently, to the atmosphere has been believed to be restricted by impermeable subsea permafrost, which has sealed the upper sediment layers for thousands of years. Our studies demonstrate progressive degradation of subsea permafrost which controls the scales of CH4 release from the sediment into the water-atmospheric system. Thus, new knowledge about the thermal state of subsea permafrost is crucial for better understanding of the permafrost -hydrate system and associated CH4 release from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) – the broadest and shallowest shelf in the World Ocean, which contains about 80% of subsea permafrost and giant pools of hydrates. Meanwhile, the ESAS, still presents large knowledge gaps in many aspects, especially with respect to subsea permafrost distribution and physical properties of bottom sediments. New field data show that the ESAS has an unfrozen (ice-free) upper sediment layer, which in-situ temperature is −1.0 to −1.8 °C and 0.6оС above the freezing point. On one hand, these cold temperature patterns may be related to the presence of subsea permafrost, which currently primarily occurs in the part of the ESAS that is shallower than 100 m, while ice-bearing sediments may also exist locally under deeper water in the Laptev Sea. On the other hand, the negative bottom sediment temperatures of −1.8 °C measured on the Laptev Sea continental slope sediments underlying water columns as deep as down to 330 m may result from dissociation of gas hydrates or possibly from dense water cascading down from the shelf. In contrast, data collected on recent expeditions in the northern Laptev shelf, zones of warmer bottom temperatures are coinciding with methane seeps, likely induced by seismic and tectonic activity in the area. These warm temperatures are not seen in the East Siberian Sea area, not even in areas of methane seeps, yet with little seismic activity.The thermal conductivity and heat capacity of bottom sediments recorded in the database of thermal parameters for the ESAS areas mainly depend on their lithification degree (density or porosity), moisture content, and particle size distribution. The thermal conductivity and heat capacity average about 1.0 W/(m·K) and 2900 kJ/(m3·K), with ±20% and ±10% variance, respectively, in all sampled Arctic sediments to a sub-bottom interval of 0–0.5 m.
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| 4. |
- Matsubara, Felipe, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
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Molecular-Multiproxy Assessment of Land-Derived Organic Matter Degradation Over Extensive Scales of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf Seas
- 2022
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Ingår i: Global Biogeochemical Cycles. - 0886-6236 .- 1944-9224. ; 36:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Global warming triggers permafrost thaw, which increases the release of terrigenous organic matter (terr-OM) to the Arctic Ocean by coastal erosion and rivers. Terrigenous OM degradation in the Arctic Ocean contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and severe ocean acidification, yet the vulnerability of different terr-OM components is poorly resolved. Here, terr-OM degradation dynamics are studied with unprecedented spatial coverage over the World's largest shelf sea system—the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS), using a multi-proxy molecular biomarker approach. Mineral-surface-area-normalized concentrations of terr-OM compounds in surface sediments decreases offshore. Differences between terr-OM compound classes (lignin phenols, high-molecular weight [HMW] n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids and n-alkanols, sterols, 3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acids, cutin acids) reflect contrasting influence of sources, propensity to microbial degradation and association with sedimenting particles, with lignin phenols disappearing 3-times faster than total terr-OM, and twice faster than other biomarkers. Molecular degradation proxies support substantial terr-OM degradation across the ESAS, with clearest trends shown by: 3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid/vanillyl phenol ratios, acid-to-aldehyde ratios of syringyl and vanillyl phenols, Carbon Preference Indices of HMW n-alkyl compounds and sitostanol/β-sitosterol. The combination of terr-OM biomarker data with δ13C/Δ14C-based source apportionment indicates that the more degraded state of lignin is influenced by the relative contribution of river-transported terr-OM from surface soils, while HMW n-alkanoic acids and stigmasterol are influenced by erosion-derived terr-OM from Ice Complex deposits. Our findings demonstrate differences in vulnerability to degradation between contrasting terr-OM pools, and underscore the need to consider molecular properties for understanding and modeling of large-scale biogeochemical processes of the permafrost carbon-climate feedback.
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