Fatty acid carbon isotopes: a new indicator of marine Antarctic paleoproductivity?
The Antarctic coastal zone is an area of high primary productivity, particularly within coastal polynyas where large phytoplankton blooms and drawdown of CO 2 occur. Reconstruction of historical primary productivity changes, and the associated driving factors, could provide baseline insights on the...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:bgd84913 2023-05-15T13:55:27+02:00 Fatty acid carbon isotopes: a new indicator of marine Antarctic paleoproductivity? Ashley, Kate Bendle, James Crosta, Xavier Etourneau, Johan Campagne, Philippine Gilchrist, Harry Ibraheem, Uthmaan Greene, Sarah Schmidt, Sabine Eley, Yvette Massé, Guillaume 2020-04-23 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-124 https://www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/bg-2020-124/ eng eng doi:10.5194/bg-2020-124 https://www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/bg-2020-124/ eISSN: 1726-4189 Text 2020 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-124 2020-04-27T14:42:00Z The Antarctic coastal zone is an area of high primary productivity, particularly within coastal polynyas where large phytoplankton blooms and drawdown of CO 2 occur. Reconstruction of historical primary productivity changes, and the associated driving factors, could provide baseline insights on the role of these areas as sinks for atmospheric CO 2 , especially in the context of projected changes in coastal Antarctic sea ice. Here we investigate the potential for using carbon isotopes (δ 13 C) of fatty acids in marine sediments as a proxy for primary productivity. We use a highly resolved sediment core from off the coast of Adélie Land spanning the last ~ 400 years and monitor changes in the concentrations and δ 13 C of fatty acids along with other proxy data from the same core. We discuss the different possible drivers of their variability and argue that C 24 fatty acid δ 13 C predominantly reflects phytoplankton productivity in open water environments, while C 18 fatty acid δ 13 C reflects productivity in the marginal ice zone. These new proxies have implications for better understanding carbon cycle dynamics in the Antarctica coastal zone in future paleoclimate studies. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Sea ice Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Antarctic The Antarctic |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
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English |
description |
The Antarctic coastal zone is an area of high primary productivity, particularly within coastal polynyas where large phytoplankton blooms and drawdown of CO 2 occur. Reconstruction of historical primary productivity changes, and the associated driving factors, could provide baseline insights on the role of these areas as sinks for atmospheric CO 2 , especially in the context of projected changes in coastal Antarctic sea ice. Here we investigate the potential for using carbon isotopes (δ 13 C) of fatty acids in marine sediments as a proxy for primary productivity. We use a highly resolved sediment core from off the coast of Adélie Land spanning the last ~ 400 years and monitor changes in the concentrations and δ 13 C of fatty acids along with other proxy data from the same core. We discuss the different possible drivers of their variability and argue that C 24 fatty acid δ 13 C predominantly reflects phytoplankton productivity in open water environments, while C 18 fatty acid δ 13 C reflects productivity in the marginal ice zone. These new proxies have implications for better understanding carbon cycle dynamics in the Antarctica coastal zone in future paleoclimate studies. |
format |
Text |
author |
Ashley, Kate Bendle, James Crosta, Xavier Etourneau, Johan Campagne, Philippine Gilchrist, Harry Ibraheem, Uthmaan Greene, Sarah Schmidt, Sabine Eley, Yvette Massé, Guillaume |
spellingShingle |
Ashley, Kate Bendle, James Crosta, Xavier Etourneau, Johan Campagne, Philippine Gilchrist, Harry Ibraheem, Uthmaan Greene, Sarah Schmidt, Sabine Eley, Yvette Massé, Guillaume Fatty acid carbon isotopes: a new indicator of marine Antarctic paleoproductivity? |
author_facet |
Ashley, Kate Bendle, James Crosta, Xavier Etourneau, Johan Campagne, Philippine Gilchrist, Harry Ibraheem, Uthmaan Greene, Sarah Schmidt, Sabine Eley, Yvette Massé, Guillaume |
author_sort |
Ashley, Kate |
title |
Fatty acid carbon isotopes: a new indicator of marine Antarctic paleoproductivity? |
title_short |
Fatty acid carbon isotopes: a new indicator of marine Antarctic paleoproductivity? |
title_full |
Fatty acid carbon isotopes: a new indicator of marine Antarctic paleoproductivity? |
title_fullStr |
Fatty acid carbon isotopes: a new indicator of marine Antarctic paleoproductivity? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fatty acid carbon isotopes: a new indicator of marine Antarctic paleoproductivity? |
title_sort |
fatty acid carbon isotopes: a new indicator of marine antarctic paleoproductivity? |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-124 https://www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/bg-2020-124/ |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Sea ice |
op_source |
eISSN: 1726-4189 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/bg-2020-124 https://www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/bg-2020-124/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-124 |
_version_ |
1766262079549865984 |