Fate of Fire altered Organic Carbon in the arctic river-to-ocean continuum: Resolving Mackenzie River Black Carbon in the Beaufort Sea
Climate change is amplified in the arctic and boreal regions. This causes higher average temperatures and less precipitation in the summer months and is resulting in longer wildfire seasons, severity, frequency and extent. This increases the relies of carbon into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases a...
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ftethz:oai:www.research-collection.ethz.ch:20.500.11850/644948 2024-02-11T10:00:47+01:00 Fate of Fire altered Organic Carbon in the arctic river-to-ocean continuum: Resolving Mackenzie River Black Carbon in the Beaufort Sea Speidel, Linn G. Bröder, Lisa id_orcid:0 000-0002-5454-7883 Lattaud, Julie id_orcid:0 000-0001-8089-6502 Haghipour, Neghar Eglinton, Timothy I. Coppola, Alysha I. 2023-04-25 application/application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/644948 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000644948 en eng Copernicus info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-7913 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SNF/Ambizione/185835 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/644948 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000644948 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International EGUsphere Black carbon Dissolved organic carbon BPCAs Mackenzie River Beaufort Sea Climate change info:eu-repo/semantics/conferenceObject info:eu-repo/semantics/updatedVersion 2023 ftethz https://doi.org/20.500.11850/64494810.3929/ethz-b-00064494810.5194/egusphere-egu23-7913 2024-01-15T00:52:43Z Climate change is amplified in the arctic and boreal regions. This causes higher average temperatures and less precipitation in the summer months and is resulting in longer wildfire seasons, severity, frequency and extent. This increases the relies of carbon into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases and aerosols, amplifying climate change even further. Black carbon (BC) is a fraction of organic carbon, resulting from the incomplete combustion of biomass and fossil fuels. BC may be inaccessible for biodegradation, because of its highly condensed aromatic molecular structure and therefore stores carbon on long timescales on land and in the ocean. BC is produced on land, but is transported as dissolved BC (DBC) by the rivers to the oceans, where it cycles on millennial timescales, sequestering BC. Thus, it is important to understand the significance of BC in the context of increased fires in this vulnerable region in the face of climate change. The Mackenzie River is a major source of terrestrial dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and the largest source of sediments to the Arctic Ocean. Here, we resolve the cycling of riverine DBC from the Mackenzie River to its fate in the Beaufort Sea, and the influence of mixing with Pacific water masses entering from the Chukchi Sea. We present DBC concentration data in ocean water, which was collected on two cruises in the Beaufort Sea in 2021 and 2022 covering the outflow of the Mackenzie River. For DBC concentrations, we digested solid phase extracts of DOC with nitric acid to oxidize BC molecules into benzenepolycarboxylic acids (BPCAs), which were then quantified on High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). We compare the concentrations of the DBC and DOC to trace the mixing of DBC river outflow with the ocean water. Since DBC originates on land and is relatively stable to biodegradation we can resolve the pathways of DBC from the Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean. Conference Object Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea black carbon Chukchi Chukchi Sea Climate change Mackenzie river ETH Zürich Research Collection Arctic Arctic Ocean Chukchi Sea Mackenzie River Pacific |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
ETH Zürich Research Collection |
op_collection_id |
ftethz |
language |
English |
topic |
Black carbon Dissolved organic carbon BPCAs Mackenzie River Beaufort Sea Climate change |
spellingShingle |
Black carbon Dissolved organic carbon BPCAs Mackenzie River Beaufort Sea Climate change Speidel, Linn G. Bröder, Lisa id_orcid:0 000-0002-5454-7883 Lattaud, Julie id_orcid:0 000-0001-8089-6502 Haghipour, Neghar Eglinton, Timothy I. Coppola, Alysha I. Fate of Fire altered Organic Carbon in the arctic river-to-ocean continuum: Resolving Mackenzie River Black Carbon in the Beaufort Sea |
topic_facet |
Black carbon Dissolved organic carbon BPCAs Mackenzie River Beaufort Sea Climate change |
description |
Climate change is amplified in the arctic and boreal regions. This causes higher average temperatures and less precipitation in the summer months and is resulting in longer wildfire seasons, severity, frequency and extent. This increases the relies of carbon into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases and aerosols, amplifying climate change even further. Black carbon (BC) is a fraction of organic carbon, resulting from the incomplete combustion of biomass and fossil fuels. BC may be inaccessible for biodegradation, because of its highly condensed aromatic molecular structure and therefore stores carbon on long timescales on land and in the ocean. BC is produced on land, but is transported as dissolved BC (DBC) by the rivers to the oceans, where it cycles on millennial timescales, sequestering BC. Thus, it is important to understand the significance of BC in the context of increased fires in this vulnerable region in the face of climate change. The Mackenzie River is a major source of terrestrial dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and the largest source of sediments to the Arctic Ocean. Here, we resolve the cycling of riverine DBC from the Mackenzie River to its fate in the Beaufort Sea, and the influence of mixing with Pacific water masses entering from the Chukchi Sea. We present DBC concentration data in ocean water, which was collected on two cruises in the Beaufort Sea in 2021 and 2022 covering the outflow of the Mackenzie River. For DBC concentrations, we digested solid phase extracts of DOC with nitric acid to oxidize BC molecules into benzenepolycarboxylic acids (BPCAs), which were then quantified on High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). We compare the concentrations of the DBC and DOC to trace the mixing of DBC river outflow with the ocean water. Since DBC originates on land and is relatively stable to biodegradation we can resolve the pathways of DBC from the Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean. |
format |
Conference Object |
author |
Speidel, Linn G. Bröder, Lisa id_orcid:0 000-0002-5454-7883 Lattaud, Julie id_orcid:0 000-0001-8089-6502 Haghipour, Neghar Eglinton, Timothy I. Coppola, Alysha I. |
author_facet |
Speidel, Linn G. Bröder, Lisa id_orcid:0 000-0002-5454-7883 Lattaud, Julie id_orcid:0 000-0001-8089-6502 Haghipour, Neghar Eglinton, Timothy I. Coppola, Alysha I. |
author_sort |
Speidel, Linn G. |
title |
Fate of Fire altered Organic Carbon in the arctic river-to-ocean continuum: Resolving Mackenzie River Black Carbon in the Beaufort Sea |
title_short |
Fate of Fire altered Organic Carbon in the arctic river-to-ocean continuum: Resolving Mackenzie River Black Carbon in the Beaufort Sea |
title_full |
Fate of Fire altered Organic Carbon in the arctic river-to-ocean continuum: Resolving Mackenzie River Black Carbon in the Beaufort Sea |
title_fullStr |
Fate of Fire altered Organic Carbon in the arctic river-to-ocean continuum: Resolving Mackenzie River Black Carbon in the Beaufort Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fate of Fire altered Organic Carbon in the arctic river-to-ocean continuum: Resolving Mackenzie River Black Carbon in the Beaufort Sea |
title_sort |
fate of fire altered organic carbon in the arctic river-to-ocean continuum: resolving mackenzie river black carbon in the beaufort sea |
publisher |
Copernicus |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/644948 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000644948 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Chukchi Sea Mackenzie River Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Chukchi Sea Mackenzie River Pacific |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea black carbon Chukchi Chukchi Sea Climate change Mackenzie river |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea black carbon Chukchi Chukchi Sea Climate change Mackenzie river |
op_source |
EGUsphere |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-7913 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SNF/Ambizione/185835 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/644948 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000644948 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11850/64494810.3929/ethz-b-00064494810.5194/egusphere-egu23-7913 |
_version_ |
1790596499298582528 |