Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ICICLES (Iron and Carbon Interactions and Biogeochemical CycLing in Subglacial EcosystemS)
Período documentado: 2020-09-15 hasta 2021-09-14
The main objective of ICICLES was to investigate the cycling and interactions between iron and carbon (as organic matter) in glacial environments. Iron, organic matter and associated trace elements in waters and sediment samples from three sites beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet and from large rivers emerging from the Greenland Ice Sheet and the Patagonian Ice Fields have been characterised using state-of-the-art spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. The fate of these glacier-derived elements in downstream near-coastal systems has been ascertained by sampling coastal marine environments fed by glacial meltwaters. A new budget of trace element and organic matter export from these ice sheet and ice field environments has been constructed and is available for use in regional and global ocean models to help assess the impact of subglacial meltwaters on marine productivity. This data provides unprecedented insight into elemental cycling in subglacial ecosystems and helps evaluate the role of ice sheets in global biogeochemical cycles. The results of this fellowship emphasise the complex societal implications of climate warming induced melting of the cryosphere, via alteration of both essential and toxic elemental fluxes from ice-to-ocean and raises more questions about the associated impacts of ice melt on ecosystem services.