Articles | Volume 20, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-365-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-365-2023
Research article
 | Highlight paper
 | 
24 Jan 2023
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 24 Jan 2023

Permafrost degradation and nitrogen cycling in Arctic rivers: insights from stable nitrogen isotope studies

Adam Francis, Raja S. Ganeshram, Robyn E. Tuerena, Robert G. M. Spencer, Robert M. Holmes, Jennifer A. Rogers, and Claire Mahaffey

Related authors

Molecular level characterization of supraglacial dissolved organic matter sources and exported pools on the southern Greenland Ice Sheet
Eva L. Doting, Ian T. Stevens, Anne M. Kellerman, Pamela E. Rossel, Runa Antony, Amy M. McKenna, Martyn Tranter, Liane G. Benning, Robert G. M. Spencer, Jon R. Hawkings, and Alexandre M. Anesio
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-492,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-492, 2024
Short summary
Global oceanic diazotroph database version 2 and elevated estimate of global oceanic N2 fixation
Zhibo Shao, Yangchun Xu, Hua Wang, Weicheng Luo, Lice Wang, Yuhong Huang, Nona Sheila R. Agawin, Ayaz Ahmed, Mar Benavides, Mikkel Bentzon-Tilia, Ilana Berman-Frank, Hugo Berthelot, Isabelle C. Biegala, Mariana B. Bif, Antonio Bode, Sophie Bonnet, Deborah A. Bronk, Mark V. Brown, Lisa Campbell, Douglas G. Capone, Edward J. Carpenter, Nicolas Cassar, Bonnie X. Chang, Dreux Chappell, Yuh-ling Lee Chen, Matthew J. Church, Francisco M. Cornejo-Castillo, Amália Maria Sacilotto Detoni, Scott C. Doney, Cecile Dupouy, Marta Estrada, Camila Fernandez, Bieito Fernández-Castro, Debany Fonseca-Batista, Rachel A. Foster, Ken Furuya, Nicole Garcia, Kanji Goto, Jesús Gago, Mary R. Gradoville, M. Robert Hamersley, Britt A. Henke, Cora Hörstmann, Amal Jayakumar, Zhibing Jiang, Shuh-Ji Kao, David M. Karl, Leila R. Kittu, Angela N. Knapp, Sanjeev Kumar, Julie LaRoche, Hongbin Liu, Jiaxing Liu, Caroline Lory, Carolin R. Löscher, Emilio Marañón, Lauren F. Messer, Matthew M. Mills, Wiebke Mohr, Pia H. Moisander, Claire Mahaffey, Robert Moore, Beatriz Mouriño-Carballido, Margaret R. Mulholland, Shin-ichiro Nakaoka, Joseph A. Needoba, Eric J. Raes, Eyal Rahav, Teodoro Ramírez-Cárdenas, Christian Furbo Reeder, Lasse Riemann, Virginie Riou, Julie C. Robidart, Vedula V. S. S. Sarma, Takuya Sato, Himanshu Saxena, Corday Selden, Justin R. Seymour, Dalin Shi, Takuhei Shiozaki, Arvind Singh, Rachel E. Sipler, Jun Sun, Koji Suzuki, Kazutaka Takahashi, Yehui Tan, Weiyi Tang, Jean-Éric Tremblay, Kendra Turk-Kubo, Zuozhu Wen, Angelicque E. White, Samuel T. Wilson, Takashi Yoshida, Jonathan P. Zehr, Run Zhang, Yao Zhang, and Ya-Wei Luo
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3673–3709, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3673-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3673-2023, 2023
Short summary
Nitrate isotope investigations reveal future impacts of climate change on nitrogen inputs and cycling in Arctic fjords: Kongsfjorden and Rijpfjorden (Svalbard)
Marta Santos-Garcia, Raja S. Ganeshram, Robyn E. Tuerena, Margot C. F. Debyser, Katrine Husum, Philipp Assmy, and Haakon Hop
Biogeosciences, 19, 5973–6002, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5973-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5973-2022, 2022
Short summary
Tracing the role of Arctic shelf processes in Si and N cycling and export through the Fram Strait: insights from combined silicon and nitrate isotopes
Margot C. F. Debyser, Laetitia Pichevin, Robyn E. Tuerena, Paul A. Dodd, Antonia Doncila, and Raja S. Ganeshram
Biogeosciences, 19, 5499–5520, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5499-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5499-2022, 2022
Short summary
Organic matter characteristics of a rapidly eroding permafrost cliff in NE Siberia (Lena Delta, Laptev Sea region)
Charlotte Haugk, Loeka L. Jongejans, Kai Mangelsdorf, Matthias Fuchs, Olga Ogneva, Juri Palmtag, Gesine Mollenhauer, Paul J. Mann, P. Paul Overduin, Guido Grosse, Tina Sanders, Robyn E. Tuerena, Lutz Schirrmeister, Sebastian Wetterich, Alexander Kizyakov, Cornelia Karger, and Jens Strauss
Biogeosciences, 19, 2079–2094, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2079-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2079-2022, 2022
Short summary

Related subject area

Biogeochemistry: Stable Isotopes & Other Tracers
Bias in calculating gross nitrification rates in forested catchments using the triple oxygen isotopic composition (Δ17O) of stream nitrate
Weitian Ding, Urumu Tsunogai, and Fumiko Nakagawa
Biogeosciences, 21, 4717–4722, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-4717-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-4717-2024, 2024
Short summary
Position-specific kinetic isotope effects for nitrous oxide: a new expansion of the Rayleigh model
Elise D. Rivett, Wenjuan Ma, Nathaniel E. Ostrom, and Eric L. Hegg
Biogeosciences, 21, 4549–4567, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-4549-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-4549-2024, 2024
Short summary
Technical note: A Bayesian mixing model to unravel isotopic data and quantify trace gas production and consumption pathways for time series data – Time-resolved FRactionation And Mixing Evaluation (TimeFRAME)
Eliza Harris, Philipp Fischer, Maciej P. Lewicki, Dominika Lewicka-Szczebak, Stephen J. Harris, and Fernando Perez-Cruz
Biogeosciences, 21, 3641–3663, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3641-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3641-2024, 2024
Short summary
No increase is detected and modeled for the seasonal cycle amplitude of δ13C of atmospheric carbon dioxide
Fortunat Joos, Sebastian Lienert, and Sönke Zaehle
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1972,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1972, 2024
Short summary
Separating above-canopy CO2 and O2 measurements into their atmospheric and biospheric signatures
Kim A. P. Faassen, Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano, Raquel González-Armas, Bert G. Heusinkveld, Ivan Mammarella, Wouter Peters, and Ingrid T. Luijkx
Biogeosciences, 21, 3015–3039, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3015-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3015-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Amon, R. M. W., Rinehart, A. J., Duan, S., Louchouarn, P., Prokushkin, A., Guggenberger, G., Bauch, D., Stedmon, C., Raymond, P. A., Holmes, R. M., McClelland, J. W., Peterson, B. J., Walker, S. A., and Zhulidov, A. V.: Dissolved organic matter sources in large Arctic rivers, Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac., 94, 217–237, https://doi.org/10.1016/J.GCA.2012.07.015, 2012. 
Anisimov, O. and Reneva, S.: Permafrost and changing climate: the Russian perspective, Ambio, 35, 169–175, https://doi.org/10.1579/0044-7447(2006)35[169:pacctr]2.0.co;2, . 
Beermann, F., Langer, M., Wetterich, S., Strauss, J., Boike, J., Fiencke, C., Schirrmeister, L., Pfeiffer, E.-M., and Kutzback, L.: Permafrost thaw and liberation of inorganic nitrogen in Eastern Siberia, Permafrost Perigl., 28, 605–618, https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.1958, 2017. 
Berhe, A. A., Harte, J., Harden, J. W., and Torn, M. S.: The Significance of the Erosion-induced Terrestrial Carbon Sink, BioScience, Narnia, 57, 337–346, https://doi.org/10.1641/B570408, 2007. 
Botrel, M., Bristow, L. A., Altabet, M. A., Gregory-Eaves, I., and Maranger, R.: Assimilation and nitrification in pelagic waters: insights using dual nitrate stable isotopes (δ15N, δ18O) in a shallow lake, Biogeochemistry, Springer International Publishing, 135, 221–237, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-017-0369-y, 2017. 
Download
Co-editor-in-chief
Vast areas of permafrost are being degraded by climate change, which can release substantial quantities of nutrients into rivers and the ocean. This study shows how nitrogen isotopes can be used to determine how climate change affects the fluxes of nitrogen to the Arctic Ocean through permafrost melt.
Short summary
Climate change is causing extensive permafrost degradation and nutrient releases into rivers with great ecological impacts on the Arctic Ocean. We focused on nitrogen (N) release from this degradation and associated cycling using N isotopes, an understudied area. Many N species are released at degradation sites with exchanges between species. N inputs from permafrost degradation and seasonal river N trends were identified using isotopes, helping to predict climate change impacts.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint