SGER: Distribution of terrigenous dissolved organic carbon in the Arctic Ocean: The importance of surface water circulation patterns and retention times

提供资金使国际和平协会能够参加2008年R/V Polarstein号邮轮前往俄罗斯北极大陆架和斜坡水域的航行。先前在Beaufort Gyre的研究得出了这样的假设，即北冰洋极地表层(PSL)中发现的溶解有机碳(DOC)浓度在很大程度上受控于自水最后一次停留在陆架上以来的时间。美国科学家进入俄罗斯北极大陆架和斜坡水域的机会有限。2008年“极地”号巡航期间采集的样本将提供北冰洋北部东部的228Ra/226Ra比值和DOC浓度的高分辨率分布，从而能够评估该地区PSL水域陆地DOC的停留时间和降解情况，他认为那里的停留时间将比Beaufort Gyre短得多。北极土壤含有不成比例的全球土壤有机碳储量，随着这些土壤融化和排干以应对气候变化，其动员是可能的。对这些变化对碳动态的影响的有用预测取决于收集和解释高质量的数据，如所提议的，以描述当今北极的碳动态。

Funds are provided to allow the PI to participate in the 2008 cruise of the R/V Polarstern to the Russian arctic shelf and slope waters. Prior studies in the Beaufort Gyre resulted in the hypothesis that the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations found in the polar surface layer (PSL) of the Arctic Ocean are largely controlled by the time since the water last resided on the shelf. Access to the Russian arctic shelf and slope waters is limited for US scientists. The samples to be collected during the 2008 Polarstern cruise will provide a high-resolution distribution of both 228Ra/226Ra ratios and DOC concentrations across the upper eastern Arctic Ocean, allowing the evaluation of the residence time and degradation of terrestrial DOC in the PSL waters of that region, where he believes residence times will be much shorter than in the Beaufort Gyre. Arctic soils contain a disproportionate load of the global soil organic carbon stock, and its mobilization is possible as those soils thaw and drain in response to climate change. Useful predictions on the effect of these changes on carbon dynamics depends on the collection and interpretation of high quality data, such as proposed, to characterize the present day carbon dynamics of the Arctic.