Suspended particulate organic carbon and its carbon isotopic composition in the surface water around the Antarctic Peninsula during summer 2017–2018

• Published in: Antarctic Science
• Main Authors: Lin, Yunpeng, Li, Yunhai, Huang, Yuanhui, Chen, Zhihua, Wang, Liang, Li, Dongyi, Tao, Shuqin
• Other Authors: Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration, National Natural Science Foundation of China
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2023
• Subjects: Geology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Oceanography; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Antarc*; Antarctic Science; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102023000093; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102023000093

Abstract The concentration of suspended particulate organic carbon (POC) and its carbon isotopic composition (δ 13 C POC ) were analysed in this study with the aim of exploring the sources and factors influencing levels of POC in the surface water around the Antarctic Peninsula. The scanning electron microscopy results suggest that diatom particles formed the main component of suspended particulate matter, indicating that POC was mainly from in situ primary production. The high concentrations of chlorophyll a and POC in sea water mainly occurred in nearshore and sea-ice edge regions, which might be controlled by nutrient and reactive iron inputs stemming from sea-ice melting. The δ 13 C POC in the study area is significantly lower than that in low-latitude waters, with a range of -31.8‰ to -22.8‰ (mean -28.9‰), which was controlled by the high CO 2 concentration in the Southern Ocean and might be influenced by phytoplankton growth rates and assemblages. This study helps us to understand material cycling in the Antarctic region under the conditions of global climate change.