Highly variable iron content modulates iceberg-ocean fertilisation and potential carbon export

Mark J. Hopwood (), Dustin Carroll, Juan Höfer, Eric P. Achterberg, Lorenz Meire, Frédéric A. C. Moigne, Lennart T. Bach, Charlotte Eich, David A. Sutherland and Humberto E. González
Additional contact information
Mark J. Hopwood: GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Dustin Carroll: San José State University
Juan Höfer: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
Eric P. Achterberg: GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Lorenz Meire: and Utrecht University
Frédéric A. C. Moigne: Aix Marseille Université Marseille
Lennart T. Bach: University of Tasmania
Charlotte Eich: and University of Amsterdam
David A. Sutherland: University of Oregon, Eugene
Humberto E. González: Universidad Austral de Chile

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Marine phytoplankton growth at high latitudes is extensively limited by iron availability. Icebergs are a vector transporting the bioessential micronutrient iron into polar oceans. Therefore, increasing iceberg fluxes due to global warming have the potential to increase marine productivity and carbon export, creating a negative climate feedback. However, the magnitude of the iceberg iron flux, the subsequent fertilization effect and the resultant carbon export have not been quantified. Using a global analysis of iceberg samples, we reveal that iceberg iron concentrations vary over 6 orders of magnitude. Our results demonstrate that, whilst icebergs are the largest source of iron to the polar oceans, the heterogeneous iron distribution within ice moderates iron delivery to offshore waters and likely also affects the subsequent ocean iron enrichment. Future marine productivity may therefore be not only sensitive to increasing total iceberg fluxes, but also to changing iceberg properties, internal sediment distribution and melt dynamics.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-13231-0 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-13231-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13231-0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().