ALBERT

Description: Nitrogen fixers, or diazotrophs, play a key role in the carbon and nitrogen cycle of the world oceans, but the controlling mechanisms are not comprehensively understood yet. The present study compares two paradigms on the ecological niche of diazotrophs in an Earth System Model (ESM). In our standard model configuration, which is representative for most of the state-of-the-art pelagic ecosystem models, diazotrophs take advantage of zooplankton featuring a lower food preference for diazotrophs than for ordinary phytoplankton. We compare this paradigm with the idea that diazotrophs are more competitive under oligotrophic conditions, characterized by low (dissolved, particulate, organic and inorganic) phosphorous availability. Both paradigms are supported by observational evidence and lead to a similar good agreement to the most recent and advanced observation-based nitrogen fixation estimate in our ESM framework. Further, we illustrate that the similarity between the two paradigms breaks in a RCP 8.5 anthropogenic emission scenario. We conclude that a more advanced understanding of the ecological niche of diazotrophs is mandatory for assessing the cycling of essential nutrients, especially under changing environmental conditions. Our results call for more in-situ measurements of cyanobacteria biomass if major controls of nitrogen fixation in the oceans are to be dissected.

Description: It is generally assumed that seismic activity at volcanoes is closely connected to degassing processes. Intuitively, one would therefore expect a good correlation between degassing rates and seismic amplitude. However, both examples and counterexamples of such a correlation exist. In this study on Villarrica volcano (Chile), we pursued a different approach to relate gas flux and volcanic seismicity using 3 months of SO$_2$ flux rate measurements and 12 days of seismic recordings from early 2012.〈br /> We analyzed the statistical distributions of interevent times between transient seismic waveforms commonly associated with explosions and between peaks in the degassing time series.〈br /> Both event types showed a periodic recurrence with a mode of 20-25 s and around 1 h for transients and degassing, respectively. The normalized interevent times were fitted by almost identical log-normal distributions. Given the actually very different time scales, this similarity potentially indicates a scale-invariant phenomenon. We could reproduce these empirical findings by modelling the occurrence of transients as a renewal process from which the degassing events were derived recursively with increasing probability since the previous degassing event. In this model, the seismic transients could be either produced by degassing processes within the conduit or by gas release at the lava lake surface while the longer intervals of the degassing events may be explained by accumulation of gas either in the magma column or in the juvenile gas plume.〈br /> Additionally, we analyzed volcano-tectonic events, which behaved very differently from the transients. They showed the clustered occurrence of tectonic earthquakes.

Description: Ice flow models of the Antarctic ice sheet are commonly used to simulate its future evolution in response to different climate scenarios and assess the mass loss that would contribute to future sea level rise. However, there is currently no consensus on estimates of the future mass balance of the ice sheet, primarily because of differences in the representation of physical processes, forcings employed and initial states of ice sheet models. This study presents results from ice flow model simulations from 13 international groups focusing on the evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet during the period 2015–2100 as part of the Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison for CMIP6 (ISMIP6). They are forced with outputs from a subset of models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), representative of the spread in climate model results. Simulations of the Antarctic ice sheet contribution to sea level rise in response to increased warming during this period varies between −7.8 and 30.0 cm of sea level equivalent (SLE) under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 scenario forcing. These numbers are relative to a control experiment with constant climate conditions and should therefore be added to the mass loss contribution under climate conditions similar to present-day conditions over the same period. The simulated evolution of the West Antarctic ice sheet varies widely among models, with an overall mass loss, up to 18.0 cm SLE, in response to changes in oceanic conditions. East Antarctica mass change varies between −6.1 and 8.3 cm SLE in the simulations, with a significant increase in surface mass balance outweighing the increased ice discharge under most RCP 8.5 scenario forcings. The inclusion of ice shelf collapse, here assumed to be caused by large amounts of liquid water ponding at the surface of ice shelves, yields an additional simulated mass loss of 28 mm compared to simulations without ice shelf collapse. The largest sources of uncertainty come from the climate forcing, the ocean-induced melt rates, the calibration of these melt rates based on oceanic conditions taken outside of ice shelf cavities and the ice sheet dynamic response to these oceanic changes. Results under RCP 2.6 scenario based on two CMIP5 climate models show an additional mass loss of 0 and 3 cm of SLE on average compared to simulations done under present-day conditions for the two CMIP5 forcings used and display limited mass gain in East Antarctica.

Description: Proteobacteria Alphaproteobacteria Rhizobiales Hyphomicrobiaceae Blas.to.chlo'ris. Gr. masc. n. blastos bud shoot; Gr. masc. adj. chloros green; N.L. fem. n. Blastochloris green bud shoot. Proteobacteria / Alphaproteobacteria / Rhizobiales / Hyphomicrobiaceae / Blastochloris Blastochloris species are anoxygenic phototrophic Alphaproteobacteria that have bacteriochlorophyll b in their photosynthetic reaction centers. Crystals of the photosynthetic reaction centers of Blastochloris viridis were the first that have been studied in high‐resolution structure analysis at 3 Å resolution. Internal photosynthetic membranes are present as lamellae underlying and parallel to the cytoplasmic membrane. Cells are rod shaped to ovoid and exhibit polar growth, budding, and asymmetric cell division and form rosette‐like cell aggregates. They are motile by means of subpolar flagella and stain Gram‐negative. Straight‐chain monounsaturated C18:1 is the predominant component of cellular fatty acids. Ubiquinones and menaquinones are present, and the lipopolysaccharides are characterized by a 2,3‐diamino‐2,3‐deoxy‐d‐glucose (DAG)‐containing, phosphate‐free lipid A with amide‐bound C14:0 3OH. DNA G + C content (mol%): 63.8–68.3. Type species: Blastochloris viridis (Drews and Giesbrecht 1966) Hiraishi 1997 (Rhodopseudomonas viridis Drews and Giesbrecht 1966).

Description: Diatoms are major primary producers in polar environments where they can actively grow under extremely variable conditions. Integrative modeling using a genome-scale model (GSM) is a powerful approach to decipher the complex interactions between components of diatom metabolism and can provide insights into metabolic mechanisms underlying their evolutionary success in polar ecosystems. We developed the first GSM for a polar diatom, Fragilariopsis cylindrus, which enabled us to study its metabolic robustness using sensitivity analysis. We find that the predicted growth rate was robust to changes in all model parameters (i.e., cell biochemical composition) except the carbon uptake rate. Constraints on total cellular carbon buffer the effect of changes in the input parameters on reaction fluxes and growth rate. We also show that single reaction deletion of 20% to 32% of active (nonzero flux) reactions and single gene deletion of 44% to 55% of genes associated with active reactions affected the growth rate, as well as the production fluxes of total protein, lipid, carbohydrate, DNA, RNA, and pigments by less than 1%, which was due to the activation of compensatory reactions (e.g., analogous enzymes and alternative pathways) with more highly connected metabolites involved in the reactions that were robust to deletion. Interestingly, including highly divergent alleles unique for F. cylindrus increased its metabolic robustness to cellular perturbations even more. Overall, our results underscore the high robustness of metabolism in F. cylindrus, a feature that likely helps to maintain cell homeostasis under polar conditions.

Description: This document provides information on the application of ethical standards and guidelines of Horizon2020 in OceanNETs concerning work conducted outside of EU- countries.

Description: Increased human activities—in particular energy generation and land use—have led to atmospheric pollution by the significant emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane. The associated climate change is also affecting the ocean while, at the same time, the ocean plays a fundamental role in mitigating climate change by serving as a major heat and carbon sink. We highlight some of the most salient aspects of climate change impacting the ocean as articulated in the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in 2019. It shows that the ocean is warming, the global sea level is rising, ocean heatwaves are more frequent, the ocean is becoming more acidic, marine ecology is shifting, levels of dissolved oxygen are reducing and the melting of ocean-terminating glaciers and ice sheets around Greenland and Antarctica is rapidly increasing. From the perspective of meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG 14, there are strong synergies between promoting climate mitigation and adaptation strategies, which are enshrined in SDG 13 and outlined in more detail by the Paris Agreement. Scientific research and solution-oriented knowledge generation require the growth and transformation of the science system. Specifically, they will require more freely shared ocean data, new and more effective ways of analyzing observational data fused with ocean and climate models, and enhanced timely assessment, predictions and scenario development of future ocean conditions. At the same time, knowledge from natural and social sciences, as well as informal knowledge, must be considered. Ocean science must be in a position to support decision makers by providing knowledge and frameworks to weigh the ecological, environmental and human impacts with an expected increase in use of the ocean for different sustainable development pathways. In recognition of this challenge, the United Nations declared 2021–2030 as the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development in order to advance “the science that we need for the ocean we want”. The ocean decade seeks to catalyze a change towards more international, shared and solution-oriented ocean science.

Description: The aim of this deliverable is to establish a strategy for the proper exploitation and dissemination of the results obtained in OceanNETs. We develop guidelines for knowledge management and protection as well as dissemination goals and also identify the target audiences and define the relevant communication channels and tools.

Description: The presence of sea ice leads in the sea ice cover represents a key feature in polar regions by controlling the heat exchange between the relatively warm ocean and cold atmosphere due to increased fluxes of turbulent sensible and latent heat. Sea ice leads contribute to the sea ice production and are sources for the formation of dense water which affects the ocean circulation. Atmospheric and ocean models strongly rely on observational data to describe the respective state of the sea ice since numerical models are not able to produce sea ice leads explicitly. For the Arctic, some lead datasets are available, but for the Antarctic, no such data yet exist. Our study presents a new algorithm with which leads are automatically identified in satellite thermal infrared images. A variety of lead metrics is used to distinguish between true leads and detection artefacts with the use of fuzzy logic. We evaluate the outputs and provide pixel-wise uncertainties. Our data yield daily sea ice lead maps at a resolution of 1 km2 for the winter months November– April 2002/03–2018/19 (Arctic) and April–September 2003–2019 (Antarctic), respectively. The long-term average of the lead frequency distributions show distinct features related to bathymetric structures in both hemispheres

Description: Remobilization of soil carbon as a result of permafrost degradation in the drainage basin of the major Siberian rivers combined with higher precipitation in a warming climate potentially increase the flux of terrestrial derived dissolved organic matter (tDOM) into the Arctic Ocean. The Laptev (LS) and East Siberian Seas (ESS) receive enormous amounts of tDOM-rich river water, which undergoes at least one freeze-melt cycle in the Siberian Arctic shelf seas. To better understand how freezing and melting affect the tDOM dynamics in the LS and ESS, we sampled sea ice, river and seawater for their dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and the colored fraction of dissolved organic matter. The sampling took place in different seasons over a period of 9 years (2010–2019). Our results suggest that the main factor regulating the tDOM distribution in the LS and ESS is the mixing of marine waters with freshwater sources carrying different tDOM concentrations. Of particular importance in this context are the 211 km3 of meltwater from land-fast ice from the LS, containing ~ 0.3 Tg DOC, which in spring mixes with 245 km3 of river water from the peak spring discharge of the Lena River, carrying ~ 2.4 Tg DOC into the LS. During the ice-free season, tDOM transport on the shelves takes place in the surface mixed layer, with the direction of transport depending on the prevailing wind direction. In winter, about 1.2 Tg of brine-related DOC, which was expelled from the growing land-fast ice in the LS, is transported in the near-surface water layer into the Transpolar Drift Stream that flows from the Siberian Shelf toward Greenland. The actual water depth in which the tDOM-rich brines are transported, depends mainly on the density stratification of the LS and ESS in the preceding summer and the amount of ice produced in winter. We suspect that climate change in the Arctic will fundamentally alter the dynamics of tDOM transport in the Arctic marginal seas, which will also have consequences for the Arctic carbon cycle.