BGC-05 Coastal biogeochemical processes in a climatically sensitive ocean
The Arctic Ocean is a net source of dissolved micronutrients toward the Atlantic Ocean through the gateway of Fram Strait
Stephan Krisch* , GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
Mark J. Hopwood, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany. Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
Thomas J. Browning, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
Pablo Lodeiro, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany. University of Lleida - AGROTECNIO-CERCA Center, Lleida, Spain.
Michiel M. Rutgers van der Loeff, Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany.
Eric P. Achterberg, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany.

Primary production forms the base of the food web but relies on the availability of macro- and micronutrients which are critical factors determining the extent of seasonal phytoplankton growth. While late-summer primary production in the Arctic Ocean is primarily limited by the availability of light and fixed N, consistent with efficient offshore micronutrient transport, phytoplankton growth in the high-latitude North Atlantic evidences wide-spread Fe- or Fe/N (co)limitation. This raises questions on the factors controlling phytoplankton growth at the Arctic-Atlantic boundaries such as Fram Strait, a region which is affected by severe reduction in sea ice extent and Arctic ‘Atlantification’. In summer 2016, GEOTRACES expedition GN05 sampled for dissolved micronutrients and macronutrients and conducted incubation experiments to determine the extent of nutrient availability and phytoplankton growth across Fram Strait. GN05 observed an east-to-west gradient in surface nutrient availability, with dissolved Fe, Mn, Co, Ni and Cu concentrations increasing and fixed N and dissolved Zn concentrations decreasing from Svalbard towards NE Greenland. Incubation experiments evidenced widespread N-limited phytoplankton growth with conditions potentially approaching secondary Fe-limitation in Atlantic Waters near Svalbard. Our results suggest that Atlantic-derived fixed N, and Arctic-derived dissolved micronutrients from riverine discharge and shelf sediment sources, advected across the North Pole, are important factors determining nutrient stoichiometry in Fram Strait. Calculation of dissolved micronutrient fluxes suggests that the Arctic Ocean is a net source of 2.3 ± 1.7 Gg·a-1 dFe, 1.7 ± 2.0 Gg·a-1 dMn, 0.2 ± 0.2 Gg·a-1 dCo, 10.1 ± 7.8 Gg·a-1 dNi and 9.7 ± 4.4 Gg·a-1 dCu through Fram Strait and toward the North Atlantic. For dissolved Zn, a net northward flux of 4.9 ± 6.2 Gg·a-1 from the Atlantic toward the Arctic Ocean was calculated. Ongoing changes to shelf inputs and sea ice dynamics in the Arctic, especially in Siberian shelf regions, are likely affecting micronutrient availability in Fram Strait and the high-latitude North Atlantic Ocean.