Projects per year
Abstract
Glaciers and ice sheets are significant sources of dissolved organic carbon and nutrients to downstream subglacial and marine ecosystems. Climatically-driven increases in glacial runoff are expected to intensify the impact of exported nutrients on local and regional downstream environments. However, the origin and bioreactivity of dissolved organic carbon from glacier surfaces are not fully understood. Here, we present data comprising of simultaneous measurements of gross primary production, community respiration, dissolved organic carbon composition and export from different surface habitats of the Greenland Ice Sheet, throughout the ablation season. We found that microbial production was significantly correlated with the concentration of labile dissolved organic species in glacier surface meltwater (Pearson correlation p<0.001). Further, we determined that freely-available organic compounds made up 62% of the dissolved organic carbon exported from the glacier surface through streams. We therefore conclude that microbial communities were the primary driver for labile dissolved organic carbon production and recycling on glacier surfaces (up to 1.12 ± 0.14 mg C L−1d−1 carbon production), and that glacier dissolved organic carbon export is dependent on active microbial processes during the melt season.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 360–365 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Nature Geoscience |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 5 |
Early online date | 3 Apr 2017 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - May 2017 |
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Dive into the research topics of 'Microbially-driven export of labile organic carbon from the Greenland Ice Sheet'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 2 Finished
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Microbial succession from ice to vegetated soils in response to glacial retreat
Anesio, A. M. B.
1/11/12 → 1/12/16
Project: Research
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DELVE: Development and validation of first generation chemical sensors for icy ecosystems
1/10/11 → 30/11/16
Project: Research