Concentrations of natural and anthropogenic organohalogens in water and air samples in the Canadian Arctic during IPY (2007-2008)

Shipboard measurements of organohalogen compounds in air and surface seawater were conducted in the Canadian Arctic in 2007-2008. Study areas included the Labrador Sea, Hudson Bay, and the southern Beaufort Sea. High volume air samples were collected at deck level (6 m), while low volume samples were taken at 1 and 15 m above the water or ice surface. Water samples were taken within 7 m. Water concentration ranges (pg/L) were as follows: alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane (alpha-HCH) 465-1013, gamma-HCH 150-254, hexachlorobenzene (HCB) 4.0-6.4, 2,4-dibromoanisole (DBA) 8.5-38, and 2,4,6-tribromoanisole (TBA) 4.7-163. Air concentration ranges (pg/m**3) were as follows: alpha-HCH 7.5-48, gamma-HCH 2.1-7.7, HCB 48-71, DBA 4.8-25, and TBA 6.4-39. Fugacity gradients predicted net deposition of HCB in all areas, while exchange directions varied for the other chemicals by season and locations. Net evasion of alpha-HCH from Hudson Bay and the Beaufort Sea during open water conditions was shown by air concentrations that averaged 14% higher at 1 m than 15 m. No significant difference between the two heights was found over ice cover. The alpha-HCH in air over the Beaufort Sea was racemic in winter (mean enantiomer fraction, EF = 0.504 ± 0.008) and nonracemic in late spring-early summer (mean EF = 0.476 ± 0.010). This decrease in EF was accompanied by a rise in air concentrations due to volatilization of nonracemic alpha-HCH from surface water (EF = 0.457 ± 0.019). Fluxes of chemicals during the southern Beaufort Sea open water season (i.e., Leg 9) were estimated using the Whitman two-film model, where volatilization fluxes are positive and deposition fluxes are negative. The means ± SD (and ranges) of net fluxes (ng/m**2/d) were as follows: alpha-HCH 6.8 ± 3.2 (2.7-13), gamma-HCH 0.76 ± 0.40 (0.26-1.4), HCB -9.6 ± 2.7 (-6.1 to -15), DBA 1.2 ± 0.69 (0.04-2.0), and TBA 0.46 ± 1.1 ng/m**2/d (-1.6 to 2.0).

Physicochemical and photosynthetic characteristics of water samples obtained during a CCGS Amundsen cruise in 2008

During summer 2008, as part of the Circumpolar Flaw Lead system study, we measured phytoplankton photosynthetic parameters to understand regional patterns in primary productivity, including the degree and timescale of photoacclimation and how variability in environmental conditions influences this response. Photosynthesis-irradiance measurements were taken at 15 sites primarily from the depth of the subsurface chlorophyll a (Chl a) maximum (SCM) within the Beaufort Sea flaw lead polynya. The physiological response of phytoplankton to a range of light levels was used to assess maximum rates of carbon (C) fixation (P*m), photosynthetic efficiency (alpha*), photoacclimation (Ek), and photoinhibition (beta*). SCM samples taken along a transect from under ice into open water exhibited a >3-fold increase in alpha* and P*m, showing these parameters can vary substantially over relatively small spatial scales, primarily in response to changes in the ambient light field. Algae were able to maintain relatively high rates of C fixation despite low light at the SCM, particularly in the large (>5 µm) size fraction at open water sites. This may substantially impact biogenic C drawdown if species composition shifts in response to future climate change. Our results suggest that phytoplankton in this region are well acclimated to existing environmental conditions, including sea ice cover, low light, and nutrient pulses. Furthermore, this photoacclimatory response can be rapid and keep pace with a developing SCM, as phytoplankton maintain photosynthetic rates and efficiencies in a narrow ''shade-acclimated'' range.

Discription of coastal shape at Bykovsky Peninsula

This article presents a comparison of sediment input by rivers and by coastal erosion into both the Laptev Sea and the Canadian Beaufort Sea (CBS). New data on coastal erosion in the Laptev Sea, which are based on field measurements and remote sensing information, and existing data on coastal erosion in the CBS as well as riverine sediment discharge into both the Laptev Sea and the CBS are included. Strong regional differences in the percentages of coastal erosion and riverine sediment supply are observed. The CBS is dominated by the riverine sediment discharge (64.45210**6 t/a) mainly of the Mackenzie River, which is the largest single source of sediments in the Arctic. Riverine sediment discharge into the Laptev Sea amounts to 24.10210**6 t/a, more than 70% of which are related to the Lena River. In comparison with the CBS, the Laptev Sea coast on average delivers approximately twice as much sediment mass per kilometer, a result of higher erosion rates due to higher cliffs and seasonal ice melting. In the Laptev Sea sediment input by coastal erosion (58.4210**6 t/a) is therefore more important than in the CBS and the ratio between riverine and coastal sediment input amounts to 0.4. Coastal erosion supplying 5.6210**6 t/a is less significant for the sediment budget of the CBS where riverine sediment discharge exceeds coastal sediment input by a factor of ca. 10.

Sedimentaology, pollen profile, and climate reconstruction on a sediment core from Trou Lake, Yukon, Canada

Beringian climate and environmental history are poorly characterized at its easternmost edge. Lake sediments from the northern Yukon Territory have recorded sedimentation, vegetation, summer temperature and precipitation changes since ~16 cal ka BP. Herb-dominated tundra persisted until ~14.7 cal ka BP with mean July air temperatures less than or equal to 5 °C colder and annual precipitation 50 to 120 mm lower than today. Temperatures rapidly increased during the Bølling/Allerød interstadial towards modern conditions, favoring establishment of Betula-Salix shrub tundra. Pollen-inferred temperature reconstructions recorded a pronounced Younger Dryas stadial in east Beringia with a temperature drop of ~1.5 °C (~2.5 to 3.0 °C below modern conditions) and low net precipitation (90 to 170 mm) but show little evidence of an early Holocene thermal maximum in the pollen record. Sustained low net precipitation and increased evaporation during early Holocene warming suggest a moisture-limited spread of vegetation and an obscured summer temperature maximum. Northern Yukon Holocene moisture availability increased in response to a retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet, postglacial sea level rise, and decreasing summer insolation that in turn led to establishment of Alnus-Betula shrub tundra from ~5 cal ka BP until present, and conversion of a continental climate into a coastal-maritime climate near the Beaufort Sea.