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Arctic carbon awakening: Evaluating the reactivity of organic carbon remobilized by past Arctic ice sheet retreat

Project description

How Arctic carbon affects the carbon cycle and palaeoclimate

While the ocean manages carbon levels, Arctic ice sheets hold large amounts of old carbon. When this ice melts, the carbon enters the air and water. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the ARCTIVITY project explores how organic carbon from melting ice affects the carbon cycle. It will examine mud from the sea floor in Greenland and the Beaufort Sea and use radiocarbon dating to find the age of the organic matter. The findings will help scientists understand how melting ice changed the climate in the past. The project will also shed light on the link between ice and the carbon cycle.

Objective

Climate change is primarily driven by atmospheric greenhouse gas levels, making it crucial to identify the Earth system processes that regulate these gases in order to better predict and mitigate climate impacts. While the ocean has long been considered the primary driver of atmospheric CO2 fluctuations, oceanic processes alone cannot fully explain the magnitude of the variations or the observed carbon isotopic signatures. In this context, the vast ancient carbon reservoirs stored beneath Arctic ice sheets, which reconfigured in sync with glacial-interglacial climate cycles, likely represent an additional carbon source released during past ice sheet retreats. The overarching aim of ARCTIVITY is to evaluate the reactivity of organic carbon remobilized by Arctic ice sheet retreat, focusing on its impact on the carbon cycle and paleoclimate change. ARCTIVITY will utilize multiple advanced techniques and methodologies to investigate different aspects of the reactivity of glacially-derived organic carbon, archived in marine sediments. These assessments include: (1) thermal reactivity – assessing carbon reactivity in response to thermal decomposition by applying RPO-14C on Northeast Greenland shelf sediments; (2) bioavailability – determining carbon reactivity through its accrssibility to microbial assimilation by leveraging CSRA of IPLs in Northeast Greenland shelf sediments; (3) weathering intensity – evaluating carbon reactivity in response to environmental exposure using sedimentary δ187Re analysis in Beaufort Sea sediments. These analyses will generate new insights into the linkage between Arctic ice sheet retreat and the global carbon cycle, as well as its potential impact on past climate change.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01

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Coordinator

ALFRED-WEGENER-INSTITUT HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUR POLAR- UND MEERESFORSCHUNG
Net EU contribution
€ 202 125,12
Address
AM HANDELSHAFEN 12
27570 Bremerhaven
Germany
Region
Bremen Bremen Bremerhaven, Kreisfreie Stadt
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost
No data