Bounding cross-shelf transport time and degradation in Siberian-Arctic land-ocean carbon transfer

Lisa Bröder; Tommaso Tesi; August Andersson; Igor Semiletov; Örjan Gustafsson

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03192-1

Bounding cross-shelf transport time and degradation in Siberian-Arctic land-ocean carbon transfer

Lisa Bröder^*, Tommaso Tesi, August Andersson, Igor Semiletov, Örjan Gustafsson

^*Corresponding author for this work

Earth and Climate

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

The burial of terrestrial organic carbon (terrOC) in marine sediments contributes to the regulation of atmospheric CO₂ on geological timescales and may mitigate positive feedback to present-day climate warming. However, the fate of terrOC in marine settings is debated, with uncertainties regarding its degradation during transport. Here, we employ compound-specific radiocarbon analyses of terrestrial biomarkers to determine cross-shelf transport times. For the World's largest marginal sea, the East Siberian Arctic shelf, transport requires 3600 ± 300 years for the 600 km from the Lena River to the Laptev Sea shelf edge. TerrOC was reduced by ∼85% during transit resulting in a degradation rate constant of 2.4 ± 0.6 kyr^-1. Hence, terrOC degradation during cross-shelf transport constitutes a carbon source to the atmosphere over millennial time. For the contemporary carbon cycle on the other hand, slow terrOC degradation brings considerable attenuation of the decadal-centennial permafrost carbon-climate feedback caused by global warming.

Original language	English
Article number	806
Pages (from-to)	1-8
Number of pages	8
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03192-1
Publication status	Published - 23 Feb 2018

Funding

We thank crew and personnel of the IB ODEN, the RV Yakob Smirnitskyi and the TB0012. The Swedish-Russian-US Investigation of Carbon-Climate-Cryosphere Interactions in the East Siberian Arctic Ocean (SWERUS-C3) 2014 and the International Siberian Shelf Study 2008 (ISSS-08) expeditions were supported by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat and the Headquarters of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This project was also supported by the Swedish Research Council (VR Contracts No. 621-2007-4631, 621-2013-5297 and 2017-01601), European Research Council (ERC-AdG CC-TOP project #695331 to Ö.G.), the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (OAR Climate Program Office, NA08OAR4600758/Siberian Shelf Study), the Russian Science Foundation (No. 15-17-20032), the Nordic Council of Ministers and the US National Science Foundation (OPP ARC 0909546; 1023281). L.B. also acknowledges financial support from the Climate Research School of the Bolin Climate Research Center. T.T. also acknowledges EU financial support as a Marie Curie fellow (contract no. PIEF-GA- 2011-300259), contribution no. 1955 of ISMAR-CNR Sede di Bologna. I.S. additionally thanks the Russian Government for financial support (mega-grant #14.Z50.31.0012). This study was supported by the Delta Facility of the Faculty of Science, Stockholm University. Cecilia Bandh and Henry Holmstrand provided valuable assistance in the laboratory.

Funders	Funder number
Seventh Framework Programme	300259, 1023281, 0909546, 695331
European Research Council
Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Science Foundation	15-17-20032

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title = "Bounding cross-shelf transport time and degradation in Siberian-Arctic land-ocean carbon transfer",

abstract = "The burial of terrestrial organic carbon (terrOC) in marine sediments contributes to the regulation of atmospheric CO2 on geological timescales and may mitigate positive feedback to present-day climate warming. However, the fate of terrOC in marine settings is debated, with uncertainties regarding its degradation during transport. Here, we employ compound-specific radiocarbon analyses of terrestrial biomarkers to determine cross-shelf transport times. For the World's largest marginal sea, the East Siberian Arctic shelf, transport requires 3600 ± 300 years for the 600 km from the Lena River to the Laptev Sea shelf edge. TerrOC was reduced by ∼85% during transit resulting in a degradation rate constant of 2.4 ± 0.6 kyr-1. Hence, terrOC degradation during cross-shelf transport constitutes a carbon source to the atmosphere over millennial time. For the contemporary carbon cycle on the other hand, slow terrOC degradation brings considerable attenuation of the decadal-centennial permafrost carbon-climate feedback caused by global warming.",

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N2 - The burial of terrestrial organic carbon (terrOC) in marine sediments contributes to the regulation of atmospheric CO2 on geological timescales and may mitigate positive feedback to present-day climate warming. However, the fate of terrOC in marine settings is debated, with uncertainties regarding its degradation during transport. Here, we employ compound-specific radiocarbon analyses of terrestrial biomarkers to determine cross-shelf transport times. For the World's largest marginal sea, the East Siberian Arctic shelf, transport requires 3600 ± 300 years for the 600 km from the Lena River to the Laptev Sea shelf edge. TerrOC was reduced by ∼85% during transit resulting in a degradation rate constant of 2.4 ± 0.6 kyr-1. Hence, terrOC degradation during cross-shelf transport constitutes a carbon source to the atmosphere over millennial time. For the contemporary carbon cycle on the other hand, slow terrOC degradation brings considerable attenuation of the decadal-centennial permafrost carbon-climate feedback caused by global warming.

AB - The burial of terrestrial organic carbon (terrOC) in marine sediments contributes to the regulation of atmospheric CO2 on geological timescales and may mitigate positive feedback to present-day climate warming. However, the fate of terrOC in marine settings is debated, with uncertainties regarding its degradation during transport. Here, we employ compound-specific radiocarbon analyses of terrestrial biomarkers to determine cross-shelf transport times. For the World's largest marginal sea, the East Siberian Arctic shelf, transport requires 3600 ± 300 years for the 600 km from the Lena River to the Laptev Sea shelf edge. TerrOC was reduced by ∼85% during transit resulting in a degradation rate constant of 2.4 ± 0.6 kyr-1. Hence, terrOC degradation during cross-shelf transport constitutes a carbon source to the atmosphere over millennial time. For the contemporary carbon cycle on the other hand, slow terrOC degradation brings considerable attenuation of the decadal-centennial permafrost carbon-climate feedback caused by global warming.

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Bounding cross-shelf transport time and degradation in Siberian-Arctic land-ocean carbon transfer

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