Continuous summer export of nitrogen-rich organic matter from the Greenland Ice Sheet inferred by ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry

Lawson, Emily C., Bhatia, Maya P., Jemma, Wadham L. and Elizabeth, Kujawinski, B. (2014) Continuous summer export of nitrogen-rich organic matter from the Greenland Ice Sheet inferred by ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry. Environmental Science & Technology, 48 . pp. 14248-14257. ISSN 0013-936X

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Abstract

Runoff from glaciers and ice sheets has been acknowledged as a potential source of bioavailable dissolved organic matter (DOM) to downstream ecosystems. This source may become increasingly significant as glacial melt rates increase in response to future climate change. Recent work has identified significant concentrations of bioavailable carbon and iron in Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) runoff. The flux characteristics and export of N-rich DOM are poorly understood. Here, we employed electrospray ionization (ESI) coupled to Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) to determine the elemental compositions of DOM molecules in supraglacial water and subglacial runoff from a large GrIS outlet glacier. We provide the first detailed temporal analysis of the molecular composition of DOM exported over a full melt season. We find that DOM pools in supraglacial and subglacial runoff are compositionally diverse and that N-rich material is continuously exported throughout the melt season as the snowline retreats further inland. Identification of protein-like compounds and a high proportion of N-rich DOM, accounting for 27-41% of the DOM molecules identified by ESI FT-ICR MS, may suggest a microbial provenance and high bioavailability of glacially-exported DOM to downstream microbial communities.

Item Type: Article
RIS ID: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/739926
Additional Information: This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Environmental Science & Technology, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/es501732h
Keywords: runoff, dissolved organic matter, ice sheets
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Geography
Identification Number: 10.1021/es501732h
Depositing User: Lawson, Dr Emily
Date Deposited: 29 Jan 2015 11:48
Last Modified: 04 May 2020 16:57
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/27960

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