Spring Succession and Vertical Export of Diatoms and IP25 in a Seasonally Ice-Covered High Arctic Fjord

• Published in: Frontiers in Earth Science
• Main Authors: Limoges, Audrey, Masse, Guillaume, Weckström, Kaarina, Poulin, Michel, Ellegaard, Marianne, Heikkilä, Maija, Geilfus, Nicolas-Xavier, Sejr, Mikael K., Rysgaard, Soren, Ribeiro, Sofia
• Other Authors: Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme, Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), Environmental Change Research Unit (ECRU)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media 2019
• Subjects: climate change; Arctic sea-ice; HBIs; diatoms; paleoenvironmental reconstructions; climate proxy; Northeast Greenland; SEA-ICE; RESTING SPORES; YOUNG SOUND; FRESH-WATER; CHAETOCEROS-PSEUDOCURVISETUS; HORIZONTAL PATCHINESS; WEST GREENLAND; DISKO-BUGT; COASTAL; 1172 Environmental sciences; Arctic; Greenland; Antarc*; Antarctica; Climate change; Disko bugt; Greenland Sea; Paleo-Arctic; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/291882

The biomarker IP25 and fossil diatom assemblages preserved in seafloor sediments are commonly used as proxies for paleo Arctic sea-ice reconstructions, but how their production varies over the seasons and is exported to the sediment remains unclear. We analyzed IP25 concentrations and diatom assemblages from a 5-week consecutive series of sea-ice cores and compared the results with sediment trap and surface sediment samples collected at the same site in the Young Sound fjord, Northeast Greenland. Our aim was to investigate the dynamics of diatom colonization of the spring sea ice and the in situ production of IP25. Additionally, selected diatom taxa observed in the sea-ice samples were isolated from in-ice assemblages and their lipid composition was analyzed via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. We confirm that Haslea spicula (and not the closely related species H. crucigeroides) is an IP25-producer. All three known IP25-producing taxa (Haslea spicula, H. kjellmanii, and Pleurosigma stuxbergii var. rhomboides) were present in Young Sound sea-ice and the low IP25 concentrations measured in the sea-ice (0.44-0.72 pg mL(-1)) were consistent with the low abundance of these source species (0.21-9.66 valves mL(-1)). Total sympagic diatom production also remained very low (21-985 valves mL(-1)), suggesting that the fjord's sea ice did not provide an optimal physical-chemical environment for diatoms to thrive. Temporal changes in the sympagic diatom community were also observed, with an early presence of the pelagic Thalassiosira hyperborea and subsequent dominance of pennate taxa, including Nitzschia and Navicula species, Fossula arctica and Stauronella arctica. The assemblages observed during and after the seasonal ice melt consisted primarily of Fossula arctica, Fragilariopsis oceanica, Thalassiosira antarctica var. borealis (resting spores), and Chaetoceros spp. (vegetative cells and resting spores). The seafloor sediment assemblages largely reflected the melt and post-melt planktic production and were dominated ...