Characterization of an optical signature of the DOM of the coastal permafrost in the Mackenzie delta, by PARAFAC analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aude Flamand ◽  
Gwénaëlle Chaillou ◽  
Lauren Kipp ◽  
Dustin Whalen
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Coastal Area ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Mackenzie Delta ◽  
Excitation Spectra ◽  
Northern Latitudes ◽  
Optical Signature ◽  
Arctic Soil ◽  
Global Soil ◽  
Thawing Rate

<p><span><span>Global warming increases the thawing rate of the permafrost in high northern latitudes. The Arctic soil organic carbon accounts for over 50% of global soil carbon which is roughly twice the amount present in the atmosphere. An increasing amount of the newly mobilized old organic carbon, and its associated compounds, originating from permafrost thaw, is expected to be delivered to the Arctic Ocean by rivers and groundwater discharges all along the Arctic coastline. Absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy can be used to identify a specific optical signature of permafrost-derived solutes with the objective of studying their transport and transformation to coastal waters. </span></span><span>Emission-excitation spectra (EEMs) from three sampling sites along the coastal area of the delta were assessed and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) was used to identify three different components characterizing the origin and the nature of the organic carbon present in various types of samples (massive ice, groundwater, seawater and water samples on top/bottom of slumps). This study suggests that the carbon originating from the thawing of the permafrost could indeed be traced along the coastal area of the Delta. </span></p>

7. The Arctic carbon vault

2021 ◽  
pp. 125-136
Author(s):  
Klaus Dodds ◽  
Jamie Woodward
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Yamal Peninsula ◽  
Frozen Ground ◽  
Global Soil ◽  
Shelf Sea ◽  
Thawing Permafrost ◽  
Bodies Of Water

‘The Arctic carbon vault’ describes the large share of Earth's organic carbon sequestered in the frozen ground and within the shelf sea sediments of the Arctic Ocean. The organic carbon stock of the permafrost is roughly equivalent to half of total global soil carbon. A cold Arctic with extensive permafrost is an effective long-term carbon sink as carbon is safely locked away as long as permafrost is maintained. Giant craters appeared on the Yamal peninsula. The thawing permafrost leads to the formation of thermokarst lakes, which are frozen bodies of water held in subsidence depressions created by the thawing of ground ice. Well-preserved carcasses of extinct ice age beasts, including woolly mammoths and cave bears, have been recovered from the thawing permafrost.

The vulnerability of Arctic shelf sediments to climate change

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robie W. Macdonald ◽  
Zou Zou A. Kuzyk ◽  
Sophia C. Johannessen
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Carbon Sources ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Sedimentary Environments ◽  
Carbon Supply ◽  
Shelf Sediment ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Metabolic Conditions ◽  
Shelf Sediments ◽  
Ocean Ecosystem

The sediments of the pan-Arctic shelves contribute an important component to the Arctic Ocean ecosystem by providing a habitat for biota (benthos), a repository for organic and inorganic non-conservative substances entering or produced within the ocean, a reactor and source of transformed substances back to the water column, and a mechanism of burial. Sediments interact with ice, ocean, and the surrounding land over a wide range of space and time scales. We discuss the vulnerability of shelf sediment to changes in (i) organic carbon sources, (ii) pathways of sediment and organic carbon supply, and (iii) physical and biogeochemical alteration (diagenesis). Sedimentary environments of the shelves and basins are likely to exhibit a wide variance in their response to global change because of their wide variation in sediment sources, processes, and metabolic conditions. In particular, the Chukchi and Barents shelves are dominated by inflowing waters from oceans to the south, whereas the interior shelves are more closely tied to terrigenous sources due to river inflow and coastal erosion.

scholarly journals Erosion of organic carbon in the Arctic as a geological carbon dioxide sink

Nature ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 524 (7563) ◽  
pp. 84-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert G. Hilton ◽  
Valier Galy ◽  
Jérôme Gaillardet ◽  
Mathieu Dellinger ◽  
Charlotte Bryant ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
The Arctic

scholarly journals Prominent bacterial heterotrophy and sources of <sup>13</sup>C-depleted fatty acids to the interior Canada Basin

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 7065-7080 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. Shah ◽  
D. R. Griffith ◽  
V. Galy ◽  
A. P. McNichol ◽  
T. I. Eglinton
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acids ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Suspended Particulate Matter ◽  
Surface Waters ◽  
Canada Basin ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Deep Basin ◽  
Suspended Particulate ◽  
Chemoautotrophic Bacteria

Abstract. In recent decades, the Canada Basin of the Arctic Ocean has experienced rapidly decreasing summer sea ice coverage and freshening of surface waters. It is unclear how these changes translate to deeper waters, particularly as our baseline understanding of organic carbon cycling in the deep basin is quite limited. In this study, we describe full-depth profiles of the abundance, distribution and carbon isotopic composition of fatty acids from suspended particulate matter at a seasonally ice-free station and a semi-permanently ice-covered station. Fatty acids, along with suspended particulate organic carbon (POC), are more concentrated and 13C-enriched under ice cover than in ice-free waters. But this influence, apparent at 50 m depth, does not propagate downward below 150 m depth, likely due to the weak biological pump in the central Canada Basin. Branched fatty acids have δ13C values that are similar to suspended POC at all depths and are more 13C-enriched than even-numbered saturated fatty acids at depths above 3000 m. These are likely to be produced in situ by heterotrophic bacteria incorporating organic carbon that is isotopically similar to total suspended POC. Below surface waters, there is also the suggestion of a source of saturated even-numbered fatty acids which could represent contributions from laterally advected organic carbon and/or from chemoautotrophic bacteria. At 3000 m depth and below, a greater relative abundance of long-chain (C20–24), branched and unsaturated fatty acids is consistent with a stronger influence of re-suspended sedimentary organic carbon. At these deep depths, two individual fatty acids (C12 and iso-C17) are significantly depleted in 13C, allowing for the possibility that methane oxidizing bacteria contribute fatty acids, either directly to suspended particulate matter or to shallow sediments that are subsequently mobilized and incorporated into suspended particulate matter within the deep basin.

scholarly journals Distribution, fluxes and balance of particulate organic carbon in the Arctic ocean

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 544-552
Author(s):  
A. A. Vetrov ◽  
E. A. Romankevich
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Particulate Organic Carbon ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Arctic Seas ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Main Component ◽  
Depth Horizon

Particulate organic carbon (POC) is one of main component of carbon cycle in the Ocean. In this study an attempt to construct a picture of the distribution and fluxes of POC in the Arctic Ocean adjusting for interchange with the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans has been made. The specificity of this construction is associated with an irregular distribution of POC measurements and complicated structure and hydrodynamics of the waters masses. To overcome these difficulties, Multiple Linear Regression technic (MLR) was performed to test the significant relation between POC, temperature, salinity, as well depth, horizon, latitude and offshore distance. The mapping of POC distribution and its fluxes was carrying out at 38 horizons from 5 to 4150 m (resolution 1°×1°). Data on temperature, salinity, meridional and zonal components of current velocities were obtained from ORA S4 database (Integrated Climate Data Center, http://icdc.cen.uni-hamburg.de/las). The import-export of POC between the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as between Arctic Seas was precomputed by summer fluxes. The import of POC in the Arctic Ocean is estimated to be 38±8Tg Cyr-1, and the export is -9.5±4.4Tg Cyr-1.

scholarly journals Permafrost-Affected Soils of the Russian Arctic and their Carbon Pools

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 619-655
Author(s):  
S. Zubrzycki ◽  
L. Kutzbach ◽  
E.-M. Pfeiffer
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Fundamental Property ◽  
Climate System ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Quaternary Period ◽  
Permafrost Regions

Abstract. Permafrost-affected soils have accumulated enormous pools of organic matter during the Quaternary Period. The area occupied by these soils amounts to more than 8.6 million km2, which is about 27% of all land areas north of 50° N. Therefore, permafrost-affected soils are considered to be one of the most important cryosphere elements within the climate system. Due to the cryopedogenic processes that form these particular soils and the overlying vegetation that is adapted to the arctic climate, organic matter has accumulated to the present extent of up to 1024 Pg (1 Pg = 1015 g = 1 Gt) of soil organic carbon stored within the uppermost three meters of ground. Considering the observed progressive climate change and the projected polar amplification, permafrost-affected soils will undergo fundamental property changes. Higher turnover and mineralization rates of the organic matter are consequences of these changes, which are expected to result in an increased release of climate-relevant trace gases into the atmosphere. As a result, permafrost regions with their distinctive soils are likely to trigger an important tipping point within the global climate system, with additional political and social implications. The controversy of whether permafrost regions continue accumulating carbon or already function as a carbon source remains open until today. An increased focus on this subject matter, especially in underrepresented Siberian regions, could contribute to a more robust estimation of the soil organic carbon pool of permafrost regions and at the same time improve the understanding of the carbon sink and source functions of permafrost-affected soils.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document