Publication Date:
2008-12-03
Description:
Using a spectrofluorimeter with 224-nm laser excitation to measure fluorescence intensity at 300-μm depth intervals, we report results of the first comparative study of concentrations of microbial cells (using the spectrum of protein-bound tryptophan (Trp) as a proxy) and of aerosols with an autofluorescence spectrum different from Trp as a function of depth in ice cores from west Antarctica (WAIS Divide and Siple Dome) and Greenland (GISP 2). The ratio of fluxes of microbial cells onto Antarctic Greenland ice is 0.23±0.11 and of non-Trp aerosols is 0.17±0.08, both of which are comparable to the ratio of fluxes of mineral dust at Antarctic and Greenland sites (0.09±0.06). In contrast, the ratio of fluxes of methanesulfonate (MSA) onto Antarctic relative to Greenland sites is 1.86±0.4, a factor 20 higher. The lower fluxes of microbes, non-Trp aerosols, and dust onto Antarctic ice may be due to the smaller areas of their source regions, together with less favorable wind patterns for Antarctic ice than Greenland ice. We attribute the higher fluxes of MSA in Antarctic ice to the concentration of haptophytes, a phylum of marine algae, in the far more extensive sea ice margin around Antarctica than around Greenland. The similarity of flux ratios of microbes and non-Trp aerosols to dust flux ratios suggests that their source regions overlap with dust sources rather than with MSA sources. A new version of the spectrofluorimeter with additional channels for mapping chlorophyll and volcanic tephra will be used to map WAIS Divide ice at 1 mm intervals to bedrock.
Print ISSN:
1810-6277
Electronic ISSN:
1810-6285
Topics:
Biology
,
Geosciences
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