Marine carbon cycling in the changing Arctic Ocean

The Arctic is at the forefront of climate change and being disproportionately affected by increased greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Recent estimates show that ice mass loss in the Canadian arctic has increased dramatically over the last twenty years - almost tripling or doubling in that time. This has led to substantial increases in freshwater discharge from glaciers which raises questions about the potential downstream effects to marine environments. Glacial discharge can lower salinity and increase the input of terrestrial material to coastal ecosystems. Arctic coastal ecosystems are hotspots for the burial of organic carbon. In order to develop effective policies and adaptation strategies, it is imperative to understand how climate change will impact the ability of Arctic ecosystems to transform and store carbon. As glaciers continue to melt, coastal ecosystems will experience changes in their geochemical environment which can directly affect the composition and function of microbial communities as well as the input and bioavailability of carbon compounds. This project will leverage an existing field program and apply state-of-the-art molecular and isotopic tools to resolve the impact of climate change on the transformation and burial of carbon in coastal Arctic ecosystems. We will conduct laboratory experiments and field measurements focusing on sites along the frozen shores of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) which contains the largest volume of glacier ice on Earth outside of Antarctica and Greenland. The project will specifically focus on Jones Sound, a region surrounded by glaciers and home to Inuit hamlet of Grise Fiord (Ausuittuq). In addition, we will leverage an established partnership with the local community to develop a community-based monitoring (CBM) program at an ocean time series station near Ausuittuq. Our results will be highly informative to earth scientists and climate modelers by addressing the extent to which carbon within Arctic coastal systems will remain sequestered or released to the atmosphere via microbial degradation.