Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/K010034/1
Isotopic characterisation of nutrient dynamics and UCDW behaviour in the west Antarctic Peninsula sea ice environment
Fellowship Award
- Fellow:
- Dr SF Henley, University of Edinburgh, Sch of Geosciences
- Grant held at:
- University of Edinburgh, Sch of Geosciences
- Science Area:
- Marine
- Overall Classification:
- Marine
- ENRIs:
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Abstract:
- This research project aims to examine the ways in which ongoing climate change and sea ice decline at the west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) are impacting upon nutrient budgets and biogeochemical cycling throughout the region. The WAP is an ecologically important region of high primary productivity, and nutrient cycling is known to be crucial to phytoplankton production and its relationship with CO2 dynamics. Upper circumpolar deep water (UCDW) is understood to constitute the principal source of nutrients to surface waters throughout the WAP region. UCDW incurs at the shelf break and is transported across the continental shelf, so that nutrients can be supplied to the mixed layer by vertical mixing. This source of nutrients fuels high productivity in coastal regions, with implications for the biological uptake of atmospheric CO2. Available evidence suggests that sea ice variability can drastically impact phytoplankton biomass and nutrient utilisation in surface waters during the summer growing seasons, but the mechanisms underlying this interaction remain to be fully understood. Sea ice melt and meteoric freshwater inputs can promote phytoplankton blooms by stabilising the upper ocean sufficiently to provide a well-lit surface environment conducive to growth. However, such stratified conditions can also inhibit productivity and the magnitude of the bloom by restricting the resupply of nutrients to the mixed layer. Superimposed onto large interannual variability in chlorophyll, macronutrients and the physical environment, there are strong indications of long-term sea ice decline along the WAP and a concomitant decline in productivity. This research project seeks to understand the changes in nutrient biogeochemistry underlying these changes in productivity in the WAP sea ice zone, and addresses the central hypothesis that a climate-induced reduction in sea ice and stratification will result in drastic declines in primary production and nitrate utilisation in the surface environment. Such conditions would lead to a simultaneous reduction in the capacity of the oceanic CO2 sink during summer and generate an increased pool of unutilised nitrate in surface waters over the shelf, both of which would hold profound implications for global biogeochemical cycles. This study will comprise three components: 1. A time-series study over three austral summer growing seasons in Ryder Bay, WAP, to examine temporal changes in fixed nitrogen budgets and cycling, in relation to interannual variability in sea ice, water column structure and productivity. 2. A ship-based transect from the shelf break to Marguerite Bay to examine deep water behaviour and its impact on the supply of nutrients to high productivity coastal regions. 3. Ship-based sampling across the wider WAP shelf region to examine spatial variability in nutrient dynamics, productivity, sea ice and physical oceanography, and give a broader context to the time-series study. A suite of biogeochemical measurements pertinent to nutrient budgets and cycling will be made during each component of the study. Comprehensive ancillary physical and biological data are available from project partners, to examine productivity and environmental variables alongside these nutrient measurements. A fixed nitrogen budget will be constructed for the WAP shelf on an annual basis and its interannual variability examined in the context of ongoing sea ice losses and changes in phytoplankton productivity. Nutrient biogeochemistry is central to the relationship between productivity and oceanic uptake of atmospheric CO2, so this study has broad and far-reaching implications for the role of the Southern Ocean CO2 system in regulating global climate. This study will also help to predict the future response of the oceans to ongoing climate change at the wider scale by giving insight into the climatic impacts on nutrient cycling and productivity in the fastest-warming marine environment on Earth.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/K010034/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Research Fellowship
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- IRF
This fellowship award has a total value of £427,829
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Estate Costs | DI - Staff | DI - T&S | DA - Other Directly Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £38,816 | £118,222 | £60,343 | £189,033 | £16,820 | £4,599 |
If you need further help, please read the user guide.