Incorporation mechanisms of iron and organic matter into newly-formed sea ice ...

• Main Author: Janssens, JPJ
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University Of Tasmania 2023
• Subjects: Southern Ocean; Weddell; Weddell Sea; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25959/23239949; https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/Incorporation_mechanisms_of_iron_and_organic_matter_into_newly-formed_sea_ice/23239949

Sea ice plays a critical role in the global ocean, including polar biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems. Importantly, sea ice serves as temporal reservoir for key nutrient iron (Fe), which is known to limit primary productivity in large parts of the Southern Ocean. Iron released from melting sea ice contributes to the formation of important phytoplankton blooms, and the carbon drawdown in the marginal ice zone. Although the importance of sea ice as a source of Fe for the Southern Ocean has been clearly established, the processes leading to the high levels of Fe in sea ice have yet to be identified and quantified. In this study, the mechanisms responsible for Fe enrichment in sea ice are explored through observations, including in situ ice-growth experiments, laboratory ice-growth experiments, and one-dimensional numerical modelling. A combination of natural young ice sampling and in situ ice-growth experiments conducted under trace metal clean conditions during a winter voyage in the Weddell Sea shows that ...