| Summary: | © The Author(s), 2018. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Science Advances 4 (2018): eaao1302, doi:10.1126/sciadv.aao1302. Rising temperatures in the Arctic Ocean region are responsible for changes such as reduced ice cover, permafrost thawing, and increased river discharge, which, together, alter nutrient and carbon cycles over the vast Arctic continental shelf. We show that the concentration of radium-228, sourced to seawater through sediment-water exchange processes, has increased substantially in surface waters of the central Arctic Ocean over the past decade. A mass balance model for 228Ra suggests that this increase is due to an intensification of shelf-derived material inputs to the central basin, a source that would also carry elevated concentrations of dissolved organic carbon and nutrients. Therefore, we suggest that significant changes in the nutrient, carbon, and trace metal balances of the Arctic Ocean are underway, with the potential to affect biological productivity and species assemblages in Arctic surface waters. This work was funded by NSF awards OCE-1458305 to M.A.C. and OCE-1458424 to W.S.M. The Mackenzie River sampling was supported by a Graduate Student Research Award from the North Pacific Research Board to L.E.K. L.E.K. also acknowledges support from a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship. I.G.R. acknowledges funding by the contributors to the U.S. Interagency Arctic Buoy Program, which include the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Energy, NASA, the U.S. Navy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NSF.
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