Methods for biogeochemical studies of sea ice: The state of the art, caveats, and recommendations

• Published in: Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene
• Main Authors: Miller, Lisa A., Fripiat, François, Else, Brent G.T., Bowman, Jeff S., Brown, Kristina A., Collins, R. Eric, Ewert, Marcela, Fransson, Agneta, Gosselin, Michel, Lannuzel, Delphine, Meiners, Klaus M., Michel, Christine, Nishioka, Jun, Nomura, Daiki, Papadimitriou, Stathys, Russell, Lynn M., Sørensen, Lise Lotte, Thomas, David N., Tison, Jean-Louis, van Leeuwe, Maria A., Vancoppenolle, Martin, Wolff, Eric W., Zhou, Jiayun
• Other Authors: Institute of Ocean Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Analytical, Environmental and Geo- Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Laboratoire de Glaciologie Bruxelles, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), University of Calgary, Centre for Earth Observation Science Winnipeg, University of Manitoba Winnipeg, School of Oceanography Seattle, University of Washington Seattle, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Vancouver (UBC EOAS), University of British Columbia (UBC), College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (CFOS), University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), Norwegian Polar Institute, Institut des Sciences de la MER de Rimouski (ISMER), Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies Hobart (IMAS), University of Tasmania Hobart, Australia (UTAS), Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE-CRC), Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Energy, Freshwater institute, fisheries and Oceans Canada, Winnipeg, Institute of Low Temperature Science Sapporo, Hokkaido University Sapporo, Japan, School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO - UC San Diego), University of California San Diego (UC San Diego), University of California (UC)-University of California (UC), Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University Aarhus, Department of environmental sciences, Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Laboratory of plant physiology, University of Groningen Groningen, Processus de couplage à Petite Echelle, Ecosystèmes et Prédateurs Supérieurs (PEPS), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Earth Sciences Cambridge, UK, University of Cambridge UK (CAM), Unité d'Océanographie Chimique, Interfacultary Center for Marine Research (MARE), Université de Liège-Université de Liège
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01139012; https://hal.science/hal-01139012/document; https://hal.science/hal-01139012/file/Miller_2015_Methods_for.pdf; https://doi.org/10.12952/journal.elementa.000038

International audience Over the past two decades, with recognition that the ocean’s sea-ice cover is neither insensitive to climate change nor a barrier to light and matter, research in sea-ice biogeochemistry has accelerated significantly, bringing together a multi-disciplinary community from a variety of fields. This disciplinary diversity has contributed a wide range of methodological techniques and approaches to sea-ice studies, complicating comparisons of the results and the development of conceptual and numerical models to describe the important biogeochemical processes occurring in sea ice. Almost all chemical elements, compounds, and biogeochemical processes relevant to Earth system science are measured in sea ice, with published methods available for determining biomass, pigments, net community production, primary production, bacterial activity, macronutrients, numerous natural and anthropogenic organic compounds, trace elements, reactive and inert gases, sulfur species, the carbon dioxide system parameters, stable isotopes, and water-ice-atmosphere fluxes of gases, liquids, and solids. For most of these measurements, multiple sampling and processing techniques are available, but to date there has been little intercomparison or intercalibration between methods. In addition, researchers collect different types of ancillary data and document their samples differently, further confounding comparisons between studies. These problems are compounded by the heterogeneity of sea ice, in which even adjacent cores can have dramatically different biogeochemical compositions. We recommend that, in future investigations, researchers design their programs based on nested sampling patterns, collect a core suite of ancillary measurements, and employ a standard approach for sample identification and documentation. In addition, intercalibration exercises are most critically needed for measurements of biomass, primary production, nutrients, dissolved and particulate organic matter (including exopolymers), the CO 2 ...