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Climatically sensitive transfer of iron to maritime Antarctic ecosystems by surface runoff.


ABSTRACT: Iron supplied by glacial weathering results in pronounced hotspots of biological production in an otherwise iron-limited Southern Ocean Ecosystem. However, glacial iron inputs are thought to be dominated by icebergs. Here we show that surface runoff from three island groups of the maritime Antarctic exports more filterable (<0.45??m) iron (6-81?kg?km-2?a-1) than icebergs (0.0-1.2?kg?km-2?a-1). Glacier-fed streams also export more acid-soluble iron (27.0-18,500?kg?km-2?a-1) associated with suspended sediment than icebergs (0-241?kg?km-2?a-1). Significant fluxes of filterable and sediment-derived iron (1-10?Gg?a-1 and 100-1,000?Gg?a-1, respectively) are therefore likely to be delivered by runoff from the Antarctic continent. Although estuarine removal processes will greatly reduce their availability to coastal ecosystems, our results clearly indicate that riverine iron fluxes need to be accounted for as the volume of Antarctic melt increases in response to 21st century climate change.

SUBMITTER: Hodson A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5316877 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Climatically sensitive transfer of iron to maritime Antarctic ecosystems by surface runoff.

Hodson Andy A   Nowak Aga A   Sabacka Marie M   Jungblut Anne A   Navarro Francisco F   Pearce David D   Ávila-Jiménez María Luisa ML   Convey Peter P   Vieira Gonçalo G  

Nature communications 20170215


Iron supplied by glacial weathering results in pronounced hotspots of biological production in an otherwise iron-limited Southern Ocean Ecosystem. However, glacial iron inputs are thought to be dominated by icebergs. Here we show that surface runoff from three island groups of the maritime Antarctic exports more filterable (<0.45 μm) iron (6-81 kg km<sup>-2</sup> a<sup>-1</sup>) than icebergs (0.0-1.2 kg km<sup>-2</sup> a<sup>-1</sup>). Glacier-fed streams also export more acid-soluble iron (27.  ...[more]

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