Project: GEOTRACES Arctic Section: Methane, vanadium, barium, and gallium as process indicators in the Arctic Ocean

NSF Award Abstract:
In this project, an investigator participating in the 2015 U.S. GEOTRACES Arctic expedition will make measurements of methane, a dissolved trace gas, as well as the dissolved trace elements of gallium, barium, and vanadium in the Arctic Ocean. In common with other multinational initiatives in the International GEOTRACES Program, the goals of the U.S. Arctic expedition are to identify processes and quantify fluxes that control the distributions of key trace elements and isotopes in the ocean, and to establish the sensitivity of these distributions to changing environmental conditions. Some trace elements are essential to life, others are known biological toxins, and still others are important because they can be used as tracers of a variety of physical, chemical, and biological processes in the sea. The trace elements and gas measured as part of this project will be used as tracers for a variety of processes such as river and atmospheric inputs to the Arctic Ocean, as well as circulation in the region. The knowledge and experience gained from this project will be incorporated into courses in oceanography and marine chemistry, as well as be shared through public outreach activities. The project will support the scientific training of a graduate student.

The tracers to be measured as part of this study, methane, gallium, barium, and vanadium, will provide important information about oceanic circulation and water inputs to the Arctic. Gallium is likely to prove a sensitive tracer for Atlantic versus Pacific water components in the western Arctic Ocean, an issue of interest in circulation studies and also relevant to projections of the stability of methane hydrates on the Arctic shelves. Barium is of interest because it has been shown to be an indicator of fluvial inputs and contributions to the halocline. This is pertinent to understanding upper ocean circulation in the Arctic as well as to freshwater contributions to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. For vanadium, the large proportion of shelf area in the Arctic makes this an ideal region to examine whether shelf sediment uptake determines surface ocean vanadium depletion. For methane, Arctic waters are a significant source of this Greenhouse Gas to the atmosphere and global change is likely exacerbating its release. Determination of the methane distribution will therefore be of interest in and of itself, although it is also a potentially valuable indicator of interactions with the shelf as well as of river inputs. Overall, results from this study will lead to an increased understanding of key ocean biogeochemical and physical processes including cross margin exchange of materials, sources of water in the Arctic Ocean, and fluxes of methane to the atmosphere.