Lisa Bröder

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

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.The fate of terrestrial organic carbon in marine sediments is debated due to large uncertainties in its degradation during transport. Here, using compound-specific radiocarbon dating of terrestrial biomarkers, the authors show that transport across the East Siberian Arctic shelf takes 3600 ± 300 years.

Addendum: Acidification of East Siberian Arctic Shelf waters through addition of freshwater and terrestrial carbon (vol 9, pg 361, 2016)

Addendum: Acidification of East Siberian Arctic Shelf waters through addition of freshwater and terrestrial carbon (vol 9, pg 361, 2016)