Antarctic ice sheet fertilises the Southern Ocean
Southern Ocean (SO) marine primary productivity (PP) is strongly influenced by the availability of iron in surface waters, which is thought to exert a significant control upon atmospheric CO2 concentrations on glacial/interglacial timescales. The zone bordering the Antarctic Ice Sheet exhibits high...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org/ark:/13030/qt1pf3w65h 2023-05-15T14:02:59+02:00 Antarctic ice sheet fertilises the Southern Ocean Death, R Wadham, JL Monteiro, F Le Brocq, AM Tranter, M Ridgwell, A Dutkiewicz, S Raiswell, R 2635 - 2643 2014-05-19 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1pf3w65h unknown eScholarship, University of California qt1pf3w65h https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1pf3w65h public Biogeosciences, vol 11, iss 10 Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Earth Sciences Environmental Sciences Biological Sciences article 2014 ftcdlib 2021-06-21T17:05:33Z Southern Ocean (SO) marine primary productivity (PP) is strongly influenced by the availability of iron in surface waters, which is thought to exert a significant control upon atmospheric CO2 concentrations on glacial/interglacial timescales. The zone bordering the Antarctic Ice Sheet exhibits high PP and seasonal plankton blooms in response to light and variations in iron availability. The sources of iron stimulating elevated SO PP are in debate. Established contributors include dust, coastal sediments/upwelling, icebergs and sea ice. Subglacial meltwater exported at the ice margin is a more recent suggestion, arising from intense iron cycling beneath the ice sheet. Icebergs and subglacial meltwater may supply a large amount of bioavailable iron to the SO, estimated in this study at 0.07-0.2 Tg yr-1. Here we apply the MIT global ocean model (Follows et al., 2007) to determine the potential impact of this level of iron export from the ice sheet upon SO PP. The export of iron from the ice sheet raises modelled SO PP by up to 40%, and provides one plausible explanation for seasonally very high in situ measurements of PP in the near-coastal zone. The impact on SO PP is greatest in coastal regions, which are also areas of high measured marine PP. These results suggest that the export of Antarctic runoff and icebergs may have an important impact on SO PP and should be included in future biogeochemical modelling. copyright © Author(s) 2014. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Iceberg* Sea ice Southern Ocean University of California: eScholarship Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Earth Sciences Environmental Sciences Biological Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Earth Sciences Environmental Sciences Biological Sciences Death, R Wadham, JL Monteiro, F Le Brocq, AM Tranter, M Ridgwell, A Dutkiewicz, S Raiswell, R Antarctic ice sheet fertilises the Southern Ocean |
topic_facet |
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Earth Sciences Environmental Sciences Biological Sciences |
description |
Southern Ocean (SO) marine primary productivity (PP) is strongly influenced by the availability of iron in surface waters, which is thought to exert a significant control upon atmospheric CO2 concentrations on glacial/interglacial timescales. The zone bordering the Antarctic Ice Sheet exhibits high PP and seasonal plankton blooms in response to light and variations in iron availability. The sources of iron stimulating elevated SO PP are in debate. Established contributors include dust, coastal sediments/upwelling, icebergs and sea ice. Subglacial meltwater exported at the ice margin is a more recent suggestion, arising from intense iron cycling beneath the ice sheet. Icebergs and subglacial meltwater may supply a large amount of bioavailable iron to the SO, estimated in this study at 0.07-0.2 Tg yr-1. Here we apply the MIT global ocean model (Follows et al., 2007) to determine the potential impact of this level of iron export from the ice sheet upon SO PP. The export of iron from the ice sheet raises modelled SO PP by up to 40%, and provides one plausible explanation for seasonally very high in situ measurements of PP in the near-coastal zone. The impact on SO PP is greatest in coastal regions, which are also areas of high measured marine PP. These results suggest that the export of Antarctic runoff and icebergs may have an important impact on SO PP and should be included in future biogeochemical modelling. copyright © Author(s) 2014. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Death, R Wadham, JL Monteiro, F Le Brocq, AM Tranter, M Ridgwell, A Dutkiewicz, S Raiswell, R |
author_facet |
Death, R Wadham, JL Monteiro, F Le Brocq, AM Tranter, M Ridgwell, A Dutkiewicz, S Raiswell, R |
author_sort |
Death, R |
title |
Antarctic ice sheet fertilises the Southern Ocean |
title_short |
Antarctic ice sheet fertilises the Southern Ocean |
title_full |
Antarctic ice sheet fertilises the Southern Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Antarctic ice sheet fertilises the Southern Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Antarctic ice sheet fertilises the Southern Ocean |
title_sort |
antarctic ice sheet fertilises the southern ocean |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1pf3w65h |
op_coverage |
2635 - 2643 |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Iceberg* Sea ice Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Iceberg* Sea ice Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Biogeosciences, vol 11, iss 10 |
op_relation |
qt1pf3w65h https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1pf3w65h |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1766273434351828992 |