Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Mark StevensonORCiD, Dr Geoffrey AbbottORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
© 2019 Elsevier B.V. Arctic sea ice has been affected by climate change, leading to reductions in summer sea ice extent over the past few decades, impacting nutrient dynamics, ocean temperature fluxes and the biological communities present in the ocean. Marine organic matter is a complex mixture of differentially degraded terrestrial and marine organisms from a range of sources and time periods. In this study pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC–MS) has been used to quantify the solvent-insoluble component of marine organic matter in surface sediments to gain a more holistic understanding of the macromolecular composition at five stations along a south to north transect in the Arctic Barents Sea, east of Svalbard (depths 288–334 m.b.s.l). Two methods were compared to identify the effectiveness of rapid screening, in contrast to grouping similar pyrolysis products. There were changes in macromolecular composition of marine surface sediments across the S-N transect using both methods, highlighting the varying benthic and pelagic communities north of the Polar Front and across the variable sea ice margin, corresponding to differing biological communities (e.g. fish, phytoplankton, ice algae, zooplankton). All five stations across the changing sea ice transect were interpreted as having primarily marine surface sediment macromolecular signatures, given their locations far from major terrestrial inputs and the more subtle changes when compared with previous investigations on the East Siberian Artic shelf. Fluctuations in macromolecular compositions across the transect included increasing N-containing compounds (including pyridines) and n-alkene/n-alkane doublet pyrolysis products from sediments collected in stations with the greatest average ice cover. If the future position of the Polar Front moves northwards then deposition of labile organic matter which appears to be efficiently processed will move further north, meaning greater deposition of organic carbon under areas of open ocean. Future research needs to understand how this OC will be buried and if it is regionally significant, given anticipated weakening stratification and a more Atlantic influenced northern Barents Sea.
Author(s): Stevenson MA, Abbott GD
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis
Year: 2019
Volume: 140
Pages: 102-111
Print publication date: 01/06/2019
Online publication date: 14/02/2019
Acceptance date: 13/02/2019
Date deposited: 30/04/2019
ISSN (print): 0165-2370
ISSN (electronic): 1873-250X
Publisher: Elsevier BV
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaap.2019.02.006
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaap.2019.02.006
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
