CO 2 and CH 4 in sea ice from a subarctic fjord under influence of riverine input

We present the CH 4 concentration [CH 4 ], the partial pressure of CO 2 ( p CO 2 ) and the total gas content in bulk sea ice from subarctic, land-fast sea ice in the Kapisillit fjord, Greenland. Fjord systems are characterized by freshwater runoff and riverine input and based on d 18 O data, we show...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biogeosciences
Main Authors: Crabeck, O, Delille, B., Thomas, D, Geilfus, N.-X., Rysgaard, S, Tison, J.-L.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2014
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Online Access:https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/271765.pdf
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Summary:We present the CH 4 concentration [CH 4 ], the partial pressure of CO 2 ( p CO 2 ) and the total gas content in bulk sea ice from subarctic, land-fast sea ice in the Kapisillit fjord, Greenland. Fjord systems are characterized by freshwater runoff and riverine input and based on d 18 O data, we show that > 30% of the surface water originated from periodic river input during ice growth. This resulted in fresher sea-ice layers with higher gas content than is typical from marine sea ice. The bulk ice [CH 4 ] ranged from 1.8 to 12.1 nmol L -1 , which corresponds to a partial pressure ranging from 3 to 28 ppmv. This is markedly higher than the average atmospheric methane content of 1.9 ppmv. Evidently most of the trapped methane within the ice was contained inside bubbles, and only a minor portion was dissolved in the brines. The bulk ice p CO 2 ranged from 60 to 330 ppmv indicating that sea ice at temperatures above -4 °C is undersaturated compared to the atmosphere (390 ppmv). This study adds to the few existing studies of CH 4 and CO 2 in sea ice, and we conclude that subarctic seawater can be a sink for atmospheric CO 2 , while being a net source of CH 4 .