Free-Drifting Icebergs as Proliferating Dispersion Sites of Iron Enrichment, Organic Carbon Production and Export in the Southern Ocean


Dataset Identification:

Resource Abstract:
Abstract: Atmospheric warming has been associated with retreating glaciers, disintegrating ice shelves, and the increasing prevalence of icebergs in the Southern Ocean over the last decade. Our preliminary study of two icebergs in the NW Weddell Sea, an area of high iceberg concentration, showed significant delivery of terrestrial material accompanied by significant enhancement of phytoplankton and zooplankton/micronekton abundance, and primary production surrounding the icebergs. We hypothesize that nutrient enrichment by free-drifting icebergs will increase primary production and sedimentation of organic carbon, thus increasing the draw-down and sequestration of CO2 in the Southern Ocean and impacting the global carbon cycle. Our research addresses the following questions: 1) What is the relationship between the physical dynamics of free-drifting icebergs and the Fe and nutrient distributions of the surrounding water column? 2) What is the relationship between Fe and nutrient distributions associated with free-drifting icebergs and the organic carbon dynamics of the ice-attached and surrounding pelagic communities (microbes, zooplankton, micronekton)? 3) What is impact on the export flux of particulate organic carbon from the mixed layer? An interdisciplinary approach is proposed to examine iceberg structure and dynamics, biogeochemical processes, and carbon cycling that includes measurement of trace element, nutrient and radionuclide distributions; organic carbon dynamics mediated by microbial, ice-attached and zooplankton communities; and particulate organic carbon export fluxes. Results from this project will further our understanding of the relationship between climate change and carbon sequestration in the Southern Ocean. Our findings will be incorporated into the Antarctic Research division of the Ocean Exploration Center (OEC) as part of the SIOExplorer: Digital Library Project. The OEC allows users to access content, which is classified to one of four levels: entry (grade K-6), student (grade 6-12), college, and research. Graduate students, undergraduates, teachers, and volunteers are important participants in the proposed field and laboratory work. For the K-12 level, a professional writer of children's books will participate in cruises to produce an account of the expedition and a daily interactive website.
Citation
Title  Free-Drifting Icebergs as Proliferating Dispersion Sites of Iron Enrichment, Organic Carbon Production and Export in the Southern Ocean
publication date 2010
cited responsible party - author
individual Name  Murray, Alison
organisation Name  Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV, 89512, US
Contact information
Postal Address:
electronic Mail Address: alison.murray@dri.edu
Linkage for online resource
URL: http://orcid.org/ORCID:0000-0001-5790-7584
protocol  ORCID
cited responsible party - publisher
organisation Name  U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) Data Center
No contact information provided.
Topic Category:   geoscientificInformation
Keywords:
Resource language:   eng
Resource progress code:   Complete
Constraints on resource usage:
Constraints
Use limitation statement:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0]
Constraints on resource usage:
Legal Constraints
Access Constraints   license
Other constraints
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0]
Constraints on resource usage:
Security Constraints
Classification  unclassified
Resource extent
Extent description
Weddell Sea
Geographic Extent
Geographic Bounding Box
westBoundLongitude  -51.98403
eastBoundLongitude  -42.57138
northBoundLatitude  -57.58068
southBoundLatitude  -62.85838
Resource extent
Temporal Extent
2007-09-01 2010-08-31
Credits:
funderName:NSF:GEO:PLR:Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems awardNumber:0636543 awardTitle:Collaborative Research: Free-Drifting Icebergs as Proliferating Dispersion Sites of Iron Enrichment, Organic Carbon Production and Export in the Southern Ocean
point of contact - pointOfContact
individual Name  Murray, Alison
organisation Name  Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV, 89512, US
Contact information
No address provided.
Linkage for online resource
URL: http://orcid.org/ORCID:0000-0001-5790-7584
protocol  ORCID
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Resource distribution information

Digital Transfer Options
Linkage for online resource
name  Landing Page
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.15784/600065
protocol  WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
link function  information
Description  Link to DOI landing page or data facility landing page if no DOI is assigned.
Linkage for online resource
name  landing page
URL: http://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600065
protocol  WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
link function  information
Description  Link to a web page related to the resource.
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Metadata Information

Metadata data stamp:  2018-05-17
Resource Maintenance Information
maintenance or update frequency:
notes:  This metadata record was generated by an xslt transformation from a DataCite metadata record; The transform was created by Damian Ulbricht and Stephen M. Richard. 2017-11-15 these records include new IEDA keywords for geoportal facets Run on 2018-06-21T19:05:24-07:00
Metadata contact - pointOfContact
organisation Name  Interdisciplinary Earth Data Alliance
Contact information
Postal Address:
electronic Mail Address: web@usap-dc.org
Linkage for online resource
URL: http://www.usap-dc.org/static/imgs/header/usaplogo.png
link function  browseGraphic
Metadata scope code  dataset
Metadata hierarchy level name:  Dataset
Metadata language   eng
Metadata character set encoding:   utf8
Metadata standard for this record:  ISO 19139 Geographic Information - Metadata - Implementation Specification
standard version:  2007
Metadata record identifier:  urn:ieda:metadataabout:10.15784-600065
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Metadata record format is ISO19139 XML (MD_Metadata)