ALBERT

Description: The Wadden Sea became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009 owing to its geographical and ecological importance. Given its status and its global recognition, academic understanding of, and engagement with, a diverse set of stakeholders is crucial to the sustainability of the Wadden Sea and the wildlife that inhabit its transnational boundaries. As such, this paper reviews with whom, how, and to what extent the academy has engaged with Wadden Sea stakeholders. This study finds that stakeholder groups (whom, with vested interests in the sea, might be expected to be present) are missing from academic publications focused on stakeholders in the Wadden Sea. Moreover, existing studies tend to focus on singular, categorized stakeholder ‘groups’, and lack transboundary integration, as well as reference to UN Sustainability Goal 14 – a key target for environmental protection. In sum, the review provides (1) an analysis of academic work that engages Wadden Sea stakeholders to assist future researchers undertaking work in this global ecologically significant area, and (2) a discussion of where future academic work might be developed.

Description: Biodiversity is expected to change in response to future global warming. However, it is difficult to predict how species will track the ongoing climate change. Here we use the fossil record of planktonic foraminifera to assess how biodiversity responded to climate change with a magnitude comparable to future anthropogenic warming. We compiled time series of planktonic foraminifera assemblages, covering the time from the last ice age across the deglaciation to the current warm period. Planktonic foraminifera assemblages shifted immediately when temperature began to rise at the end of the last ice age and continued to change until approximately 5,000 years ago, even though global temperature remained relatively stable during the last 11,000 years. The biotic response was largest in the mid latitudes and dominated by range expansion, which resulted in the emergence of new assemblages without analogues in the glacial ocean. Our results indicate that the plankton response to global warming was spatially heterogeneous and did not track temperature change uniformly over the past 24,000 years. Climate change led to the establishment of new assemblages and possibly new ecological interactions, which suggests that current anthropogenic warming may lead to new, different plankton community composition.

Description: The robustness of complex networks was one of the first phenomena studied after the inception of network science. However, many contemporary presentations of this theory do not go beyond the original papers. Here we revisit this topic with the aim of providing a deep but didactic introduction. We pay attention to some complications in the computation of giant component sizes that are commonly ignored. Following an intuitive procedure, we derive simple formulas that capture the effect of common attack scenarios on arbitrary (configuration model) networks. We hope that this easy introduction will help new researchers discover this beautiful area of network science.

Description: 〈jats:title〉Abstract〈/jats:title〉〈jats:p〉In spite of a proliferation of academic and policy-oriented interest in deep sea mining (DSM), this paper argues that two underlying questions remain underexplored. The first relates to 〈jats:italic〉what〈/jats:italic〉 exactly the seabed 〈jats:italic〉is〈/jats:italic〉; the second to 〈jats:italic〉who〈/jats:italic〉 the stakeholders 〈jats:italic〉are〈/jats:italic〉. It is argued that a greater interrogation of how the seabed is defined and understood, and a deeper consideration of how stakeholders are identified and the politics of their inclusion, is crucial to the enactment of policy and planning techniques. Through the analysis of current regulations to govern DSM in both national and international jurisdictions, this paper critically examines these seemingly banal but vital questions in different contexts. It is contended that most regulations are ‘fuzzy’ when it comes to addressing these questions, with the result that different understandings of the seabed and the implications of mining are ignored and that who stakeholders are and how they are defined causes many relevant voices to be unheard. It is argued, therefore, that it is imperative to address these often-overlooked questions directly in order to inform future seabed policy and governance.〈/jats:p〉

Description: Genome analyses predict that the cofactor cobalamin (vitamin B12, called B12 herein) is produced by only one-third of all prokaryotes but almost all encode at least one B12-dependent enzyme, in most cases methionine synthase. This implies that the majority of prokaryotes relies on exogenous B12 supply and interacts with producers. B12 consists of a corrin ring centred around a cobalt ion and the lower ligand 5’6-dimethylbenzimidazole (DMB). It has never been tested whether availability of this pivotal cofactor, DMB or its intermediate α-ribazole affect growth and composition of prokaryotic microbial communities. Here we show that in the subtropical, equatorial and polar frontal Pacific Ocean supply of B12 and α-ribazole enhances heterotrophic prokaryotic production and alters the composition of prokaryotic and heterotrophic protist communities. In the polar frontal Pacific, the SAR11 clade and Oceanospirillales increased their relative abundances upon B12 supply. In the subtropical Pacific, Oceanospirillales increased their relative abundance upon B12 supply as well but also downregulated the transcription of the btuB gene, encoding the outer membrane permease for B12. Surprisingly, Prochlorococcus, known to produce pseudo-B12 and not B12, exhibited significant upregulation of genes encoding key proteins of photosystem I + II, carbon fixation and nitrate reduction upon B12 supply in the subtropical Pacific. These findings show that availability of B12 and α-ribazole affect growth and composition of prokaryotic and protist communities in oceanic systems thus revealing far-reaching consequences of methionine biosynthesis and other B12-dependent enzymatic reactions on a community level.

Description: 〈jats:title〉Abstract〈/jats:title〉〈jats:p〉Biotin (vitamin B〈jats:sub〉7〈/jats:sub〉) is involved in a wide range of essential biochemical reactions and a crucial micronutrient that is vital for many pro- and eukaryotic organisms. The few biotin measurements in the world’s oceans show that availability is subject to strong fluctuations. Numerous marine microorganisms exhibit biotin auxotrophy and therefore rely on supply by other organisms. Desthiobiotin is the primary precursor of biotin and has recently been detected at concentrations similar to biotin in seawater. The last enzymatic reaction in the biotin biosynthetic pathway converts desthiobiotin to biotin via the biotin synthase (BioB). The role of desthiobiotin as a precursor of biotin synthesis in microbial systems, however, is largely unknown. Here we demonstrate experimentally that bacteria can overcome biotin auxotrophy if they retain the 〈jats:italic〉bioB〈/jats:italic〉 gene and desthiobiotin is available. A genomic search of 1068 bacteria predicts that the biotin biosynthetic potential varies greatly among different phylogenetic groups and that 20% encode solely 〈jats:italic〉bioB〈/jats:italic〉 and thus can potentially overcome biotin auxotrophy. Many 〈jats:italic〉Actino〈/jats:italic〉- and 〈jats:italic〉Alphaproteobacteria〈/jats:italic〉 cannot synthesize biotin de novo, but some possess solely 〈jats:italic〉bioB〈/jats:italic〉, whereas the vast majority of 〈jats:italic〉Gammaproteobacteria〈/jats:italic〉 and 〈jats:italic〉Flavobacteriia〈/jats:italic〉 exhibit the last four crucial biotin synthesis genes. We detected high intra- and extracellular concentrations of the precursor relative to biotin in the prototrophic bacterium, 〈jats:italic〉Vibrio campbellii〈/jats:italic〉, with extracellular desthiobiotin reaching up to 1.09 ± 0.15*10〈jats:sup〉6〈/jats:sup〉 molecules per cell during exponential growth. Our results provide evidence for the ecological role of desthiobiotin as an escape route to overcome biotin auxotrophy for bacteria in the ocean and presumably in other ecosystems.〈/jats:p〉

Description: Despite accumulating data on microbial biogeographic patterns in terrestrial and aquatic environments, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of how these patterns establish, in particular in ocean basins. Here we show the relative significance of the ecological mechanisms selection, dispersal and drift for shaping the composition of microbial communities in the Pacific Ocean over a transect of 12,400 km between subantarctic and subarctic regions. In the epipelagic, homogeneous selection contributes 50–60% and drift least to the three mechanism for the assembly of prokaryotic communities whereas in the upper mesopelagic, drift is relatively most important for the particle-associated subcommunities. Temperature is important for the relative significance of homogeneous selection and dispersal limitation for community assembly. The relative significance of both mechanisms was inverted with increasing temperature difference along the transect. For eukaryotes 〉8 µm, homogeneous selection is also the most important mechanisms at two epipelagic depths whereas at all other depths drift is predominant. As species interactions are essential for structuring microbial communities we further analyzed co-occurrence-based community metrics to assess biogeographic patterns over the transect. These interaction-adjusted indices explained much better variations in microbial community composition as a function of abiotic and biotic variables than compositional or phylogenetic distance measures like Bray–Curtis or UniFrac. Our analyses are important to better understand assembly processes of microbial communities in the upper layers of the largest ocean and how they adapt to effectively perform in global biogeochemical processes. Similar principles presumably act upon microbial community assembly in other ocean basins.

Description: Genome analyses predict that the cofactor cobalamin (vitamin B12, called B12 herein) is produced by only one-third of all prokaryotes but almost all encode at least one B12-dependent enzyme, in most cases methionine synthase. This implies that the majority of prokaryotes relies on exogenous B12 supply and interacts with producers. B12 consists of a corrin ring centred around a cobalt ion and the lower ligand 5’6-dimethylbenzimidazole (DMB). It has never been tested whether availability of this pivotal cofactor, DMB or its intermediate α-ribazole affect growth and composition of prokaryotic microbial communities. Here we show that in the subtropical, equatorial and polar frontal Pacific Ocean supply of B12 and α-ribazole enhances heterotrophic prokaryotic production and alters the composition of prokaryotic and heterotrophic protist communities. In the polar frontal Pacific, the SAR11 clade and Oceanospirillales increased their relative abundances upon B12 supply. In the subtropical Pacific, Oceanospirillales increased their relative abundance upon B12 supply as well but also downregulated the transcription of the btuB gene, encoding the outer membrane permease for B12. Surprisingly, Prochlorococcus, known to produce pseudo-B12 and not B12, exhibited significant upregulation of genes encoding key proteins of photosystem I + II, carbon fixation and nitrate reduction upon B12 supply in the subtropical Pacific. These findings show that availability of B12 and α-ribazole affect growth and composition of prokaryotic and protist communities in oceanic systems thus revealing far-reaching consequences of methionine biosynthesis and other B12-dependent enzymatic reactions on a community level.

Description: Microbial communities are major drivers of global elemental cycles in the oceans due to their high abundance and enormous taxonomic and functional diversity. Recent studies assessed microbial taxonomic and functional biogeography in global oceans but microbial functional biogeography remains poorly studied. Here we show that in the near-surface Atlantic and Southern Ocean between 62°S and 47°N microbial communities exhibit distinct taxonomic and functional adaptations to regional environmental conditions. Richness and diversity showed maxima around 40° latitude and intermediate temperatures, especially in functional genes (KEGG-orthologues, KOs) and gene profiles. A cluster analysis yielded three clusters of KOs but five clusters of genes differing in the abundance of genes involved in nutrient and energy acquisition. Gene profiles showed much higher distance-decay rates than KO and taxonomic profiles. Biotic factors were identified as highly influential in explaining the observed patterns in the functional profiles, whereas temperature and biogeographic province mainly explained the observed taxonomic patterns. Our results thus indicate fine-tuned genetic adaptions of microbial communities to regional biotic and environmental conditions in the Atlantic and Southern Ocean.

Description: Global biodiversity loss and mass extinction of species are two of the most critical environmental issues the world is currently facing, resulting in the disruption of various ecosystems central to environmental functions and human health. Microbiome-targeted interventions, such as probiotics and microbiome transplants, are emerging as potential options to reverse deterioration of biodiversity and increase the resilience of wildlife and ecosystems. However, the implementation of these interventions is urgently needed. We summarize the current concepts, bottlenecks and ethical aspects encompassing the careful and responsible management of ecosystem resources using the microbiome (termed microbiome stewardship) to rehabilitate organisms and ecosystem functions. We propose a real-world application framework to guide environmental and wildlife probiotic applications. This framework details steps that must be taken in the upscaling process while weighing risks against the high toll of inaction. In doing so, we draw parallels with other aspects of contemporary science moving swiftly in the face of urgent global challenges.

Description: Two airborne field campaigns focusing on observations of Arctic mixed-phase clouds and boundary layer processes and their role with respect to Arctic amplification have been carried out in spring 2019 and late summer 2020 over the Fram Strait northwest of Svalbard. The latter campaign was closely connected to the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition. Comprehensive datasets of the cloudy Arctic atmosphere have been collected by operating remote sensing instruments, in-situ probes, instruments for the measurement of turbulent fluxes of energy and momentum, and dropsondes on board the AWI research aircraft Polar 5. In total, 24 flights with 111 flight hours have been performed over open ocean, the marginal sea ice zone, and sea ice. The datasets follow documented methods and quality assurance and are suited for studies on Arctic mixedphase clouds and their transformation processes, for studies with a focus on Arctic boundary layer processes, and for satellite validation applications. All datasets are freely available via the world data center PANGAEA.

Description: Zooplankton plays a major role in ocean food webs and biogeochemical cycles, and provides major ecosystem services as a main driver of the biological carbon pump and in sustaining fish communities. Zooplankton is also sensitive to its environment and reacts to its changes. To better understand the importance of zooplankton, and to inform prognostic models that try to represent them, spatially-resolved biomass estimates of key plankton taxa are desirable. In this study we predict, for the first time, the global biomass distribution of 19 zooplankton taxa (1-50 mm Equivalent Spherical Diameter) using observations with the Underwater Vision Profiler 5, a quantitative in situ imaging instrument. After classification of 466,872 organisms from more than 3,549 profiles (0-500 m) obtained between 2008 and 2019 throughout the globe, we estimated their individual biovolumes and converted them to biomass using taxa-specific conversion factors. We then associated these biomass estimates with climatologies of environmental variables (temperature, salinity, oxygen, etc.), to build habitat models using boosted regression trees. The results reveal maximal zooplankton biomass values around 60°N and 55°S as well as minimal values around the oceanic gyres. An increased zooplankton biomass is also predicted for the equator. Global integrated biomass (0-500 m) was estimated at 0.403 PgC. It was largely dominated by Copepoda (35.7%, mostly in polar regions), followed by Eumalacostraca (26.6%) Rhizaria (16.4%, mostly in the intertropical convergence zone). The machine learning approach used here is sensitive to the size of the training set and generates reliable predictions for abundant groups such as Copepoda (R2 ≈ 20-66%) but not for rare ones (Ctenophora, Cnidaria, R2 〈 5%). Still, this study offers a first protocol to estimate global, spatially resolved zooplankton biomass and community composition from in situ imaging observations of individual organisms. The underlying dataset covers a period of 10 years while approaches that rely on net samples utilized datasets gathered since the 1960s. Increased use of digital imaging approaches should enable us to obtain zooplankton biomass distribution estimates at basin to global scales in shorter time frames in the future.

Description: The original version of the Description of Additional Supplementary Files associated with this Article contained errors in the legends of Supplementary Data 5–8 and omitted legends for the Source Data. The HTML has been updated to include a corrected version of the Description of Additional Supplementary Files; the original incorrect version of this file can be found as Supplementary Information associated with this Correction.

Description: 〈jats:p〉Abstract. We developed a new version of the Alfred Wegener Institute Climate Model (AWI-CM3), which has higher skills in representing the observed climatology and better computational efficiency than its predecessors. Its ocean component FESOM2 (Finite-volumE Sea ice–Ocean Model) has the multi-resolution functionality typical of unstructured-mesh models while still featuring a scalability and efficiency similar to regular-grid models. The atmospheric component OpenIFS (CY43R3) enables the use of the latest developments in the numerical-weather-prediction community in climate sciences. In this paper we describe the coupling of the model components and evaluate the model performance on a variable-resolution (25–125 km) ocean mesh and a 61 km atmosphere grid, which serves as a reference and starting point for other ongoing research activities with AWI-CM3. This includes the exploration of high and variable resolution and the development of a full Earth system model as well as the creation of a new sea ice prediction system. At this early development stage and with the given coarse to medium resolutions, the model already features above-CMIP6-average skills (where CMIP6 denotes Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6) in representing the climatology and competitive model throughput. Finally we identify remaining biases and suggest further improvements to be made to the model. 〈/jats:p〉

Description: Germany has been operating permanently crewed research stations in Antarctica for more than 45 years. The opening of the Georg Forster Station (1976) and Georg von Neumayer Station (1981) initiated a period of continuous environmental monitoring that allowed both the former East Germany and West Germany to become contracting parties in, and achieve consultative status with, the framework of the Antarctic Treaty. This marked a milestone in German polar research. Continuous research at the Neumayer Station III, its two predecessors, and the now-dismantled former German Democratic Republic (GDR) Georg Forster Station is undertaken by teams of so-called “overwinterers”, presently with nine members, who stay at the base for longer than an entire Antarctic winter. Their long-term stay in Antarctica is defined by isolation, separation from civilization, routine work to sustain long-term scientific observations, and unique personal experiences. This article is dedicated to them and outlines their part and role in the German Antarctic research landscape.

Description: Accurate assessment of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere in a changing climate is critical to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the development of climate policies, and project future climate change. Here we describe and synthesize data sets and methodologies to quantify the five major components of the global carbon budget and their uncertainties. Fossil CO2 emissions (EFOS) are based on energy statistics and cement production data, while emissions from land-use change (ELUC), mainly deforestation, are based on land use and land-use change data and bookkeeping models. Atmospheric CO2 concentration is measured directly, and its growth rate (GATM) is computed from the annual changes in concentration. The ocean CO2 sink (SOCEAN) is estimated with global ocean biogeochemistry models and observation-based data products. The terrestrial CO2 sink (SLAND) is estimated with dynamic global vegetation models. The resulting carbon budget imbalance (BIM), the difference between the estimated total emissions and the estimated changes in the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere, is a measure of imperfect data and understanding of the contemporary carbon cycle. All uncertainties are reported as ±1σ. For the year 2021, EFOS increased by 5.1% relative to 2020, with fossil emissions at 10.1±0.5GtCyr-1 (9.9±0.5GtCyr-1 when the cement carbonation sink is included), and ELUC was 1.1±0.7GtCyr-1, for a total anthropogenic CO2 emission (including the cement carbonation sink) of 10.9±0.8GtCyr-1 (40.0±2.9GtCO2). Also, for 2021, GATM was 5.2±0.2GtCyr-1 (2.5±0.1ppmyr-1), SOCEAN was 2.9 ±0.4GtCyr-1, and SLAND was 3.5±0.9GtCyr-1, with a BIM of -0.6GtCyr-1 (i.e. the total estimated sources were too low or sinks were too high). The global atmospheric CO2 concentration averaged over 2021 reached 414.71±0.1ppm. Preliminary data for 2022 suggest an increase in EFOS relative to 2021 of +1.0% (0.1% to 1.9%) globally and atmospheric CO2 concentration reaching 417.2ppm, more than 50% above pre-industrial levels (around 278ppm). Overall, the mean and trend in the components of the global carbon budget are consistently estimated over the period 1959-2021, but discrepancies of up to 1GtCyr-1 persist for the representation of annual to semi-decadal variability in CO2 fluxes. Comparison of estimates from multiple approaches and observations shows (1) a persistent large uncertainty in the estimate of land-use change emissions, (2) a low agreement between the different methods on the magnitude of the land CO2 flux in the northern extratropics, and (3) a discrepancy between the different methods on the strength of the ocean sink over the last decade. This living data update documents changes in the methods and data sets used in this new global carbon budget and the progress in understanding of the global carbon cycle compared with previous publications of this data set. The data presented in this work are available at 10.18160/GCP-2022 (Friedlingstein et al., 2022b).

Description: Ice shelves surrounding the Antarctic perimeter moderate ice discharge towards the ocean through buttressing. Ice-shelf evolution and integrity depend on the local surface accumulation, basal melting and on the spatially variable ice-shelf viscosity. These components of ice-shelf mass balance are often poorly constrained by observations and introduce uncertainties in ice-sheet projections. Isochronal radar stratigraphy is an observational archive for the atmospheric, oceanographic and ice-flow history of ice shelves. Here, we predict the stratigraphy of locally accumulated ice on ice shelves with a kinematic forward model for a given atmospheric and oceanographic scenario. This delineates the boundary between local meteoric ice (LMI) and continental meteoric ice (CMI). A large LMI to CMI ratio hereby marks ice shelves whose buttressing strength is more sensitive to changes in atmospheric precipitation patterns. A mismatch between the steady-state predictions of the kinematic forward model and observations from radar can highlight inconsistencies in the atmospheric and oceanographic input data or be an indicator for a transient ice-shelf history not accounted for in the model. We discuss pitfalls in numerical diffusion when calculating the age field and validate the kinematic model with the full Stokes ice-flow model Elmer/Ice. The Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf (East Antarctica) serves as a test case for this approach. There, we find a significant east–west gradient in the LMI / CMI ratio. The steady-state predictions concur with observations on larger spatial scales (〉10 km), but deviations on smaller scales are significant, e.g., because local surface accumulation patterns near the grounding zone are underestimated in Antarctic-wide estimates. Future studies can use these mismatches to optimize the input data or to pinpoint transient signatures in the ice-shelf history using the ever growing archive of radar observations of internal ice stratigraphy.

Description: Observations of rapid ongoing grounding line retreat, ice shelf thinning and accelerated ice flow from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) may forebode a possible collapse if global temperatures continue to increase. Understanding and reconstructing West Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics in past warmer-than-present times will inform about its behavior as an analogue for future climate scenarios. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 379 visited the Amundsen Sea sector of Antarctica to obtain geological records suitable for this purpose. During the expedition, cores from two drill sites at the Resolution Drift on the continental rise returned sediments whose deposition was possibly influenced by West Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics from late Miocene to Holocene times. To examine the West Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics, shipboard physical properties and sedimentological data are correlated with seismic data and extrapolated across the Resolution Drift via core-log-seismic integration. An interval with strongly variable physical properties, high diatom abundance and ice-rafted debris occurrence, correlating with partially high amplitude seismic reflection characteristics was identified between 4.2 and 3.2 Ma. Sedimentation during this interval is interpreted as having occurred during an extended warm period with a dynamic West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Amundsen Sea sector. These records compare to those of other drill sites in the Ross Sea and the Bellingshausen Sea, and thus suggest an almost simultaneous occurrence of extended warm periods in all three locations.

Description: Arctic warming is causing ancient perennially frozen ground (permafrost) to thaw, resulting in ground collapse, and reshaping of landscapes. This threatens Arctic peoples' infrastructure, cultural sites, and land-based natural resources. Terrestrial permafrost thaw and ongoing intensification of hydrological cycles also enhance the amount and alter the type of organic carbon (OC) delivered from land to Arctic nearshore environments. These changes may affect coastal processes, food web dynamics and marine resources on which many traditional ways of life rely. Here, we examine how future projected increases in runoff and permafrost thaw from two permafrost-dominated Siberian watersheds—the Kolyma and Lena, may alter carbon turnover rates and OC distributions through river networks. We demonstrate that the unique composition of terrestrial permafrost-derived OC can cause significant increases to aquatic carbon degradation rates (20 to 60% faster rates with 1% permafrost OC). We compile results on aquatic OC degradation and examine how strengthening Arctic hydrological cycles may increase the connectivity between terrestrial landscapes and receiving nearshore ecosystems, with potential ramifications for coastal carbon budgets and ecosystem structure. To address the future challenges Arctic coastal communities will face, we argue that it will become essential to consider how nearshore ecosystems will respond to changing coastal inputs and identify how these may affect the resiliency and availability of essential food resources.

Description: Many current challenges involve understanding the complex dynamical interplay between the constituents of systems. Typically, the number of such constituents is high, but only limited data sources on them are available. Conventional dynamical models of complex systems are rarely mathematically tractable and their numerical exploration suffers both from computational and data limitations. Here we review generalized modeling, an alternative approach for formulating dynamical models to gain insights into dynamics and bifurcations of uncertain systems. We argue that this approach deals elegantly with the uncertainties that exist in real world data and enables analytical insight or highly efficient numerical investigation. We provide a survey of recent successes of generalized modeling and a guide to the application of this modeling approach in future studies such as complex integrative ecological models.

Description: Beavers were not previously recognized as an Arctic species, and their engineering in the tundra is considered negligible. Recent findings suggest that beavers have moved into Arctic tundra regions and are controlling surface water dynamics, which strongly influence permafrost and landscape stability. Here we use 70 years of satellite images and aerial photography to show the scale and magnitude of northwestward beaver expansion in Alaska, indicated by the construction of over 10,000 beaver ponds in the Arctic tundra. The number of beaver ponds doubled in most areas between ~ 2003 and ~ 2017. Earlier stages of beaver engineering are evident in ~ 1980 imagery, and there is no evidence of beaver engineering in ~ 1952 imagery, consistent with observations from Indigenous communities describing the influx of beavers over the period. Rapidly expanding beaver engineering has created a tundra disturbance regime that appears to be thawing permafrost and exacerbating the effects of climate change.

Description: In the context of global warming, the melting of arctic permafrost raises the threat of a re-emergence of microorganisms some of which were shown to remain viable in ancient frozen soils for up to half a million years. In order to evaluate this risk, it is of interest to acquire a better knowledge of the composition of the microbial communities found in this understudied environment. Here we present a metagenomics analysis of 12 soil samples from Russian Arctic and subarctic pristine areas: Chukotka, Yakutia, and Kamchatka, including 9 permafrost samples collected at various depths. These large datasets (9.2 1011 total bp) were assembled (525,313 contigs 〉 5kb), their encoded protein contents predicted, then used to perform taxonomical assignments of bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic organisms, as well as DNA viruses. The various samples exhibited variable DNA contents and highly diverse taxonomic profiles showing no obvious relationship with their locations, depths or deposit ages. Bacteria represented the largely dominant DNA fraction (95%) in all samples, followed by archaea (3.2%), surprisingly little eukaryotes (0.5%), and viruses (0.4%). Although no common taxonomic pattern was identified, the samples shared unexpected high frequencies of β-lactamase genes, almost 0.9 copy/bacterial genome. In addition of known environmental threats, the particularly intense warming of the Arctic might thus enhance the spread of bacterial antibiotic resistances, today's major challenge in public health. β-lactamases were also observed at high frequency in other types of soils, suggesting their general role in the regulation of bacterial populations.

Description: 〈jats:p〉Abstract. Skillful sea ice drift forecasts are crucial for scientific mission planning and marine safety. Wind is the dominant driver of ice motion variability, but more slowly varying components of the climate system, in particular ice thickness and ocean currents, bear the potential to render ice drift more predictable than the wind. In this study, we provide the first assessment of Arctic sea ice drift predictability in four coupled general circulation models (GCMs), using a suite of “perfect-model” ensemble simulations. We find the position vector from Lagrangian trajectories of virtual buoys to remain predictable for at least a 90 (45) d lead time for initializations in January (July), reaching about 80 % of the position uncertainty of a climatological reference forecast. In contrast, the uncertainty in Eulerian drift vector predictions reaches the level of the climatological uncertainty within 4 weeks. Spatial patterns of uncertainty, varying with season and across models, develop in all investigated GCMs. For two models providing near-surface wind data (AWI-CM1 and HadGEM1.2), we find spatial patterns and large fractions of the variance to be explained by wind vector uncertainty. The latter implies that sea ice drift is only marginally more predictable than wind. Nevertheless, particularly one of the four models (GFDL-CM3) shows a significant correlation of up to −0.85 between initial ice thickness and target position uncertainty in large parts of the Arctic. Our results provide a first assessment of the inherent predictability of ice motion in coupled climate models; they can be used to put current real-world forecast skill into perspective and highlight the model diversity of sea ice drift predictability. 〈/jats:p〉

Description: One-quarter of photosynthesis-derived carbon on Earth rapidly cycles through a set of short-lived seawater metabolites that are generated from the activities of marine phytoplankton, bacteria, grazers and viruses. Here we discuss the sources of microbial metabolites in the surface ocean, their roles in ecology and biogeochemistry, and approaches that can be used to analyse them from chemistry, biology, modelling and data science. Although microbial-derived metabolites account for only a minor fraction of the total reservoir of marine dissolved organic carbon, their flux and fate underpins the central role of the ocean in sustaining life on Earth.

Description: The fast and remarkable growth of global aquaculture in recent years has created new challenges, such as guaranteeing a sustainable supply of raw materials used for aquafeed formulation. Gammarids are low-trophic crustaceans with an increasing interest in aquaculture due to their high nutritional profiles and their capacity to grow under high-density conditions. Moreover, gammarids have the ability to thrive on a wide range of sidestreams while accumulating relatively high levels of long-chain (≥C20) polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA). In the present study, juveniles of the marine gammarid Gammarus locusta were cultured at four different temperatures (5°C, 10°C, 15°C, and 20°C) for 21 days and fed three diets, including the seaweed Fucus sp. as control, and carrot leaves and coconut flesh representing two agri-food industry sidestreams. Our results indicate that both the survival and biomass of G. locusta were highly affected by diet, with coconut showing the lowest growth performance. The temperature had no effect on biomass, although high temperature (20°C) resulted in a decrease in survival. The effects of temperature on the gammarid fatty acids were not evident, with diet being the main modulator of the profiles. Furthermore, the results also reveal that the Fucus sp. diet was associated with relatively high percentages of n-3 and n-6 LC-PUFA. Interestingly, essential LC-PUFA such as eicosapentaenoic (20:5n-3, EPA) and docosahexaenoic (22:6n-3, DHA) acids were detected in gammarids fed on either Fucus sp. or any of the sidestreams irrespectively of their presence in the diets. These results suggest an ability of G. locusta for LC-PUFA biosynthesis (trophic upgrading) and/or retention, making this species a promising candidate for the production of high-value ingredients for aquafeeds.

Description: Exceptional drought events, known as megadroughts, have occurred on every continent outside Antarctica over the past ~2,000 years, causing major ecological and societal disturbances. In this Review, we discuss shared causes and features of Common Era (Year 1–present) and future megadroughts. Decadal variations in sea surface temperatures are the primary driver of megadroughts, with secondary contributions from radiative forcing and land–atmosphere interactions. Anthropogenic climate change has intensified ongoing megadroughts in south-western North America and across Chile and Argentina. Future megadroughts will be substantially warmer than past events, with this warming driving projected increases in megadrought risk and severity across many regions, including western North America, Central America, Europe and the Mediterranean, extratropical South America, and Australia. However, several knowledge gaps currently undermine confidence in understanding past and future megadroughts. These gaps include a paucity of high-resolution palaeoclimate information over Africa, tropical South America and other regions; incomplete representations of internal variability and land surface processes in climate models; and the undetermined capacity of water-resource management systems to mitigate megadrought impacts. Addressing these deficiencies will be crucial for increasing confidence in projections of future megadrought risk and for resiliency planning.

Description: Numerical simulations indicate that extreme climate events (e.g., droughts, floods, heat waves) will increase in a warming world, putting enormous pressure on society and political decision-makers. To provide a long-term perspective on the variability of these extreme events, here we use a ~700 years tree-ring oxygen isotope chronology from Eastern Europe, in combination with paleo-reanalysis data, to show that the summer drying over Eastern Europe observed over the last ~150 years is to the best of our knowledge unprecedented over the last 700 years. This drying is driven by a change in the pressure patterns over Europe, characterized by a shift from zonal to a wavier flow around 1850CE, leading to extreme summer droughts and aridification. To our knowledge, this is the first and longest reconstruction of drought variability, based on stable oxygen isotopes in the tree-ring cellulose, for Eastern Europe, helping to fill a gap in the spatial coverage of paleoclimate reconstructions.

Description: The Arctic is no longer a region dominated by thick multi-year ice (MYI), but by thinner, more dynamic, first-year-ice (FYI). This shift towards a seasonal ice cover has consequences for the under-ice light field, as sea-ice and its snow cover are a major factor influencing radiative transfer and thus, biological activity within- and under the ice. This work describes in situ measurements of light transmission through different types of sea-ice (MYI and FYI) performed during two expeditions to the Chukchi sea in August 2018 and 2019, as well as a simple characterisation of the biological state of the ice microbial system. Our analysis shows that, in late summer, two different states of FYI exist in this region: 1) FYI in an enhanced state of decay, and 2) robust FYI, more likely to survive the melt season. The two FYI types have different average ice thicknesses: 0.74 ± 0.07 m (N = 9) and 0.93 ± 0.11m (N = 9), different average values of transmittance: 0.15 ± 0.04 compared to 0.09 ± 0.02, and different ice extinction coefficients: 1.49 ± 0.28 and 1.12 ± 0.19 m -1. The measurements performed over MYI present different characteristics with a higher average ice thickness of 1.56 ± 0.12 m, lower transmittance (0.05 ± 0.01) with ice extinction coefficients of 1.24 ± 0.26 m-1 (N = 12). All ice types show consistently low salinity, chlorophyll a concentrations and nutrients, which may be linked to the timing of the measurements and the flushing of melt-water through the ice. With continued Arctic warming, the summer ice will continue to retreat, and the decayed variant of FYI, with a higher scattering of light, but a reduced thickness, leading to an overall higher light transmittance, may become a more relevant ice type. Our results suggest that in this scenario, more light would reach the ice interior and the upper-ocean.

Description: The effects of climate change (CC) on contaminants and their potential consequences to marine ecosystem services and human wellbeing are of paramount importance, as they pose overlapping risks. Here, we discuss how the interaction between CC and contaminants leads to poorly constrained impacts that affects the sensitivity of organisms to contamination leading to impaired ecosystem function, services and risk assessment evaluations. Climate drivers, such as ocean warming, ocean deoxygenation, changes in circulation, ocean acidification, and extreme events interact with trace metals, organic pollutants, excess nutrients, and radionuclides in a complex manner. Overall, the holistic consideration of the pollutants-climate change nexus has significant knowledge gaps, but will be important in understanding the fate, transport, speciation, bioavailability, toxicity, and inventories of contaminants. Greater focus on these uncertainties would facilitate improved predictions of future changes in the global biogeochemical cycling of contaminants and both human health and marine ecosystems.

Description: The Northeast Greenland shelf (NEGS) is a recipient of Polar Water (PW) from the Arctic Ocean, Greenland Ice Sheet melt, and Atlantic Water (AW). Here, we compile hydrographical measurements to quantify long-term changes in fjords and coastal waters. We find a profound change in the vertical distribution of water masses, with AW shoaling 〉60 m and PW thinning 〉50 m since early 2000’s. The properties of these waters have also changed. AW is now 1 °C warmer and the salinity of surface waters and PW are 1.8 and 0.68 lower, respectively. The AW changes have substantially weakened stratification south of ~74°N, indicating increased accessibility of heat and potentially nutrients associated with AW. The Atlantification earlier reported for the eastern Fram Strait and Barents Sea region has also propagated to the NEGS. The increased presence of AW, is an important driver for regional change leading to a likely shift in ecosystem structure and function.

Description: 〈jats:p〉Abstract. Systematic long-term studies on ecosystem dynamics are largely lacking from the East Antarctic Southern Ocean, although it is well recognized that they are indispensable to identify the ecological impacts and risks of environmental change. Here, we present a framework for establishing a long-term cross-disciplinary study on decadal timescales. We argue that the eastern Weddell Sea and the adjacent sea to the east, off Dronning Maud Land, is a particularly well suited area for such a study, since it is based on findings from previous expeditions to this region. Moreover, since climate and environmental change have so far been comparatively muted in this area, as in the eastern Antarctic in general, a systematic long-term study of its environmental and ecological state can provide a baseline of the current situation, which will be important for an assessment of future changes from their very onset, with consistent and comparable time series data underpinning and testing models and their projections. By establishing an Integrated East Antarctic Marine Research (IEAMaR) observatory, long-term changes in ocean dynamics, geochemistry, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions and services will be systematically explored and mapped through regular autonomous and ship-based synoptic surveys. An associated long-term ecological research (LTER) programme, including experimental and modelling work, will allow for studying climate-driven ecosystem changes and interactions with impacts arising from other anthropogenic activities. This integrative approach will provide a level of long-term data availability and ecosystem understanding that are imperative to determine, understand, and project the consequences of climate change and support a sound science-informed management of future conservation efforts in the Southern Ocean. 〈/jats:p〉

Description: 〈jats:p〉Abstract. Boreal forests of Siberia play a relevant role in the global carbon cycle. However, global warming threatens the existence of summergreen larch-dominated ecosystems, likely enabling a transition to evergreen tree taxa with deeper active layers. Complex permafrost–vegetation interactions make it uncertain whether these ecosystems could develop into a carbon source rather than continuing atmospheric carbon sequestration under global warming. Consequently, shedding light on the role of current and future active layer dynamics and the feedbacks with the apparent tree species is crucial to predict boreal forest transition dynamics and thus for aboveground forest biomass and carbon stock developments. Hence, we established a coupled model version amalgamating a one-dimensional permafrost multilayer forest land-surface model (CryoGrid) with LAVESI, an individual-based and spatially explicit forest model for larch species (Larix Mill.), extended for this study by including other relevant Siberian forest species and explicit terrain. Following parameterization, we ran simulations with the coupled version to the near future to 2030 with a mild climate-warming scenario. We focus on three regions covering a gradient of summergreen forests in the east at Spasskaya Pad, mixed summergreen–evergreen forests close to Nyurba, and the warmest area at Lake Khamra in the southeast of Yakutia, Russia. Coupled simulations were run with the newly implemented boreal forest species and compared to runs allowing only one species at a time, as well as to simulations using just LAVESI. Results reveal that the coupled version corrects for overestimation of active layer thickness (ALT) and soil moisture, and large differences in established forests are simulated. We conclude that the coupled version can simulate the complex environment of eastern Siberia by reproducing vegetation patterns, making it an excellent tool to disentangle processes driving boreal forest dynamics. 〈/jats:p〉

Description: 〈jats:title〉Abstract〈/jats:title〉〈jats:p〉The Digital Earth project aimed for the integration of data science and Earth science. Here, we reflect on the main lessons learned that include the need for interdisciplinary collaboration, thinking out of the box, the concept of ‘thinking in workflows’ and models for the sustainable implementation of scientific software, data infrastructure and policies.〈/jats:p〉

Description: 〈jats:title〉Abstract〈/jats:title〉〈jats:p〉Data-driven science has turned into a fourth fundamental paradigm of performing research. Earth System Science, following a holistic approach in unraveling the complex network of processes and interactions shaping system Earth, particularly profits from embracing data-driven approaches next to observation and modeling. At the end, increasing digitalization of Earth sciences will lead to cultural transformation towards a Digital Earth Culture.〈/jats:p〉

Description: 〈jats:title〉Abstract〈/jats:title〉〈jats:p〉Digital Earth is a project funded by the German Helmholtz Association with all centers of the research field Earth and Environment involved. The main goal of the Digital Earth project is to develop and bundle data science methods in extendable and maintainable scientific workflows that enable natural scientists in collaboration with data scientists to achieve a deeper understanding of the Earth system. This has been achieved by developing solutions for data analysis and exploration with visual and computational approaches with data obtained in a SMART monitoring approach and modeling studies, accompanied by a continuous evaluation of the collaboration processes. In this chapter, the history, setup, and focus of the Digital Earth project are described.〈/jats:p〉

Description: In the Arctic, air temperatures are increasing and sea ice is declining, resulting in larger waves and a longer open water season, all of which intensify the thaw and erosion of ice-rich coasts. Climate change has been shown to increase the rate of Arctic coastal erosion, causing problems for Arctic cultural heritage, existing industrial, military, and civil infrastructure, as well as changes in nearshore biogeochemistry. Numerical models that reproduce historical and project future Arctic erosion rates are necessary to understand how further climate change will affect these problems, and no such model yet exists to simulate the physics of erosion on a pan-Arctic scale. We have coupled a bathystrophic storm surge model to a simplified physical erosion model of a permafrost coastline. This Arctic erosion model, called ArcticBeach v1.0, is a first step toward a physical parameterization of Arctic shoreline erosion for larger-scale models. It is forced by wind speed and direction, wave period and height, sea surface temperature, all of which are masked during times of sea ice cover near the coastline. Model tuning requires observed historical retreat rates (at least one value), as well as rough nearshore bathymetry. These parameters are already available on a pan-Arctic scale. The model is validated at three study sites at 1) Drew Point (DP), Alaska, 2) Mamontovy Khayata (MK), Siberia, and 3) Veslebogen Cliffs, Svalbard. Simulated cumulative retreat rates for DP and MK respectively (169 and 170 m) over the time periods studied at each site (2007–2016, and 1995–2018) are found to the same order of magnitude as observed cumulative retreat (172 and 120 m). The rocky Veslebogen cliffs have small observed cumulative retreat rates (0.05 m over 2014–2016), and our model was also able to reproduce this same order of magnitude of retreat (0.08 m). Given the large differences in geomorphology between the study sites, this study provides a proof-of-concept that ArcticBeach v1.0 can be applied on very different permafrost coastlines. ArcticBeach v1.0 provides a promising starting point to project retreat of Arctic shorelines, or to evaluate historical retreat in places that have had few observations.

Description: Over the past decade, a series of airborne experiments in the Arctic and Antarctica explored microwave emission from sea ice and ice sheets at frequencies from 0.5 to 2 GHz. The experiments were motivated by the fact that lower frequencies penetrate deeper into a frozen surface, thus offering the possibility to measure physical temperatures at great depths in ice sheets and, subsequently, other unique geophysical observables including sea ice salinity. These experiments were made feasible by recent engineering advances in electronics, antenna design, and noise removal algorithms when operating outside of protected bands in the electromagnetic spectrum. These technical advances permit a new type of radiometer that not only operates at low frequency, but also obtains continuous spectral information over the band from 0.5 to 2 GHz. Spectral measurements facilitate an understanding of the physical processes controlling emission and also support the interpretation of results from single frequency instruments. This paper reviews the development of low-frequency, wide band radiometry and its application to cryosphere science over the past 10 years. The paper summarizes the engineering design of an airborne instrument and the associated algorithms to mitigate radio frequency interference. Theoretical models of emission built around the morphologic and electrical properties of cryospheric components are also described that identify the dominant physical processes contributing to emission spectra. New inversion techniques for geophysical parameter retrieval are summarized for both Arctic and Antarctic scenarios. Examples that illustrate how the measurements are used to inform on glaciological problems are presented. The paper concludes with a description of new instrument concepts that are foreseen to extend the technology into operation from space.

Description: The original version of this Article contained an error in Fig. 4, in which the y-axis should read “INPs (L−1 of air)” instead of “INPs x 10−3 (L−1 of air)”. This has been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

Description: One of the major challenges facing global hydrodynamic tidal models is the modelling of the interaction between sea ice and tides in high-latitude waters. Recent studies have shown strong seasonal correlation between sea ice and tides. Hence, it is important to accurately model the effect of sea ice in a tidal model. Presence of sea ice leads to a frictional dissipation of tides. Most models either completely ignore sea ice or partly include it by assuming a fixed sea ice cover (landfast ice). However, sea ice can also be drifting and the nature of dissipation between drifting sea ice and tides is partly unknown. We assess the dissipation of tides due to free drift sea ice. In the absence of wind, this is negligible in the deeper and open ocean. For the shallow water regions, however, this dissipation is unknown. Here, we evaluate this dissipation for the Spitzbergen Shelf region using a beacon dataset showing strong free drift subdaily sea ice oscillations and a physics based point ice model. Two analyses were done which compared the model and observed motion. The analyses showed that for winds speeds below 8m/s and with low subdaily signals, the subdaily free drift sea ice motion is strongly connected to the tides and that the frictional dissipation is low. In the context of global tide and storm surge models, the dissipation from free drift sea ice on tides should be evaluated based on the region (deep ocean or shallow water) and existing wind conditions. In the presence of strong winds the dissipation between free drift sea ice and air can be significant on a subdaily scale even if there are no subdaily signals in the wind itself.

Description: Animal behavior in space and time is structured by the perceived day/night cycle. However, this is modified by the animals’ own movement within its habitat, creating a realized diel light niche (RDLN). To understand the RDLN, we investigated the light as experienced by zooplankton undergoing synchronized diel vertical migration (DVM) in an Arctic fjord around the spring equinox. We reveal a highly dampened light cycle with diel changes being about two orders of magnitude smaller compared to the surface or a static depth. The RDLN is further characterized by unique wavelength-specific irradiance cycles. We discuss the relevance of RDLNs for animal adaptations and interactions, as well as implications for circadian clock entrainment in the wild and laboratory.

Description: The moon’s monthly cycle synchronizes reproduction in countless marine organisms. The mass-spawning bristle worm Platynereis dumerilii uses an endogenous monthly oscillator set by full moon to phase reproduction to specific days. But how do organisms recognize specific moon phases? We uncover that the light receptor L-Cryptochrome (L-Cry) discriminates between different moonlight durations, as well as between sun- and moonlight. A biochemical characterization of purified L-Cry protein, exposed to naturalistic sun- or moonlight, reveals the formation of distinct sun- and moonlight states characterized by different photoreduction- and recovery kinetics of L-Cry’s cofactor Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide. In Platynereis, L-Cry’s sun- versus moonlight states correlate with distinct subcellular localizations, indicating different signaling. In contrast, r-Opsin1, the most abundant ocular opsin, is not required for monthly oscillator entrainment. Our work reveals a photo-ecological concept for natural light interpretation involving a “valence interpreter” that provides entraining photoreceptor(s) with light source and moon phase information.

Description: The SiDroForest (Siberian drone-mapped forest inventory) data collection is an attempt to remedy the scarcity of forest structure data in the circumboreal region by providing adjusted and labeled tree-level and vegetation plot-level data for machine learning and upscaling purposes. We present datasets of vegetation composition and tree and plot level forest structure for two important vegetation transition zones in Siberia, Russia; the summergreen–evergreen transition zone in Central Yakutia and the tundra–taiga transition zone in Chukotka (NE Siberia). The SiDroForest data collection consists of four datasets that contain different complementary data types that together support in-depth analyses from different perspectives of Siberian Forest plot data for multi-purpose applications. i. Dataset 1 provides unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-borne data products covering the vegetation plots surveyed during fieldwork (Kruse et al., 2021, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.933263). The dataset includes structure-from-motion (SfM) point clouds and red–green–blue (RGB) and red–green–near-infrared (RGN) orthomosaics. From the orthomosaics, point-cloud products were created such as the digital elevation model (DEM), canopy height model (CHM), digital surface model (DSM) and the digital terrain model (DTM). The point-cloud products provide information on the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the forest at each plot. ii. Dataset 2 contains spatial data in the form of point and polygon shapefiles of 872 individually labeled trees and shrubs that were recorded during fieldwork at the same vegetation plots (van Geffen et al., 2021c, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.932821). The dataset contains information on tree height, crown diameter, and species type. These tree and shrub individually labeled point and polygon shapefiles were generated on top of the RGB UVA orthoimages. The individual tree information collected during the expedition such as tree height, crown diameter, and vitality are provided in table format. This dataset can be used to link individual information on trees to the location of the specific tree in the SfM point clouds, providing for example, opportunity to validate the extracted tree height from the first dataset. The dataset provides unique insights into the current state of individual trees and shrubs and allows for monitoring the effects of climate change on these individuals in the future. iii. Dataset 3 contains a synthesis of 10 000 generated images and masks that have the tree crowns of two species of larch (Larix gmelinii and Larix cajanderi) automatically extracted from the RGB UAV images in the common objects in context (COCO) format (van Geffen et al., 2021a, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.932795). As machine-learning algorithms need a large dataset to train on, the synthetic dataset was specifically created to be used for machine-learning algorithms to detect Siberian larch species. iv. Dataset 4 contains Sentinel-2 (S-2) Level-2 bottom-of-atmosphere processed labeled image patches with seasonal information and annotated vegetation categories covering the vegetation plots (van Geffen et al., 2021b, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.933268). The dataset is created with the aim of providing a small ready-to-use validation and training dataset to be used in various vegetation-related machine-learning tasks. It enhances the data collection as it allows classification of a larger area with the provided vegetation classes. The SiDroForest data collection serves a variety of user communities. The detailed vegetation cover and structure information in the first two datasets are of use for ecological applications, on one hand for summergreen and evergreen needle-leaf forests and also for tundra–taiga ecotones. Datasets 1 and 2 further support the generation and validation of land cover remote-sensing products in radar and optical remote sensing. In addition to providing information on forest structure and vegetation composition of the vegetation plots, the third and fourth datasets are prepared as training and validation data for machine-learning purposes. For example, the synthetic tree-crown dataset is generated from the raw UAV images and optimized to be used in neural networks. Furthermore, the fourth SiDroForest dataset contains S-2 labeled image patches processed to a high standard that provide training data on vegetation class categories for machine-learning classification with JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) labels provided. The SiDroForest data collection adds unique insights into remote hard-to-reach circumboreal forest regions.

Description: How fast the Northern Hemisphere (NH) forest biome tracks strongly warming climates is largely unknown. Regional studies reveal lags between decades and millennia. Here we report a conundrum: Deglacial forest expansion in the NH extra-tropics occurs approximately 4000 years earlier in a transient MPI-ESM1.2 simulation than shown by pollen-based biome reconstructions. Shortcomings in the model and the reconstructions could both contribute to this mismatch, leaving the underlying causes unresolved. The simulated vegetation responds within decades to simulated climate changes, which agree with pollen-independent reconstructions. Thus, we can exclude climate biases as main driver for differences. Instead, the mismatch points at a multi-millennial disequilibrium of the NH forest biome to the climate signal. Therefore, the evaluation of time-slice simulations in strongly changing climates with pollen records should be critically reassessed. Our results imply that NH forests may be responding much slower to ongoing climate changes than Earth System Models predict.

Description: The Last Interglacial (~129,000–116,000 years ago) is the most recent geologic period with a warmer-than-present climate. Proxy-based temperature reconstructions from this interval can help contextualize natural climate variability in our currently warming world, especially if they can define changes on decadal timescales. Here, we established a ~4.800-year-long record of sea surface temperature (SST) variability from the eastern Mediterranean Sea at 1–4-year resolution by applying mass spectrometry imaging of long-chain alkenones to a finely laminated organic-matter-rich sapropel deposited during the Last Interglacial. We observe the highest amplitude of decadal variability in the early stage of sapropel deposition, plausibly due to reduced vertical mixing of the highly stratified water column. With the subsequent reorganization of oceanographic conditions in the later stage of sapropel deposition, when SST forcing resembled the modern situation, we observe that the maximum amplitude of reconstructed decadal variability did not exceed the range of the recent period of warming climate. The more gradual, centennial SST trends reveal that the maximal centennial scale SST increase in our Last Interglacial record is below the projected temperature warming in the twenty-first century.

Description: Climate change is expected to cause major shifts in boreal forests which are in vast areas of Siberia dominated by two species of the deciduous needle tree larch (Larix). The species differ markedly in their ecosystem functions, thus shifts in their respective ranges are of global relevance. However, drivers of species distribution are not well understood, in part because paleoecological data at species level are lacking. This study tracks Larix species distribution in time and space using target enrichment on sedimentary ancient DNA extracts from eight lakes across Siberia. We discovered that Larix sibirica, presently dominating in western Siberia, likely migrated to its northern distribution area only in the Holocene at around 10,000 years before present (ka BP), and had a much wider eastern distribution around 33 ka BP. Samples dated to the Last Glacial Maximum (around 21 ka BP), consistently show genotypes of L. gmelinii. Our results suggest climate as a strong determinant of species distribution in Larix and provide temporal and spatial data for species projection in a changing climate.

Description: Wildfires play an essential role in the ecology of boreal forests. In eastern Siberia, fire activity has been increasing in recent years, challenging the livelihoods of local communities. Intensifying fire regimes also increase disturbance pressure on the boreal forests, which currently protect the permafrost beneath from accelerated degradation. However, long-term relationships between changes in fire regime and forest structure remain largely unknown. We assess past fire-vegetation feedbacks using sedimentary proxy records from Lake Satagay, Central Yakutia, Siberia, covering the past c. 10,800 years. Results from macroscopic and microscopic charcoal analyses indicate high amounts of burnt biomass during the Early Holocene, and that the present-day, low-severity surface fire regime has been in place since c. 4,500 years before present. A pollen-based quantitative reconstruction of vegetation cover and a terrestrial plant record based on sedimentary ancient DNA metabarcoding suggest a pronounced shift in forest structure toward the Late Holocene. Whereas the Early Holocene was characterized by postglacial open larch-birch woodlands, forest structure changed toward the modern, mixed larch-dominated closed-canopy forest during the Mid-Holocene. We propose a potential relationship between open woodlands and high amounts of burnt biomass, as well as a mediating effect of dense larch forest on the climate-driven intensification of fire regimes. Considering the anticipated increase in forest disturbances (droughts, insect invasions, and wildfires), higher tree mortality may force the modern state of the forest to shift toward an open woodland state comparable to the Early Holocene. Such a shift in forest structure may result in a positive feedback on currently intensifying wildfires. These new long-term data improve our understanding of millennial-scale fire regime changes and their relationships to changes of vegetation in Central Yakutia, where the local population is already being confronted with intensifying wildfire seasons.

Description: The northern Humboldt Current upwelling system (HCS) belongs to the most productive marine ecosystems, providing five to eight times higher fisheries landings per unit area than other coastal upwelling systems. To solve this “Peruvian puzzle”, to elucidate the pelagic food-web structure and to better understand trophic interactions in the HCS, a combined stable isotope and fatty acid trophic biomarker approach was adopted for key zooplankton taxa and higher trophic positions with an extensive spatial coverage from 8.5 to 16°S and a vertical range down to 1,000 m depth. A pronounced regional shift by up to ∼5‰ in the δ15N baseline of the food web occurred from North to South. Besides regional shifts, δ15N ratios of particulate organic matter (POM) also tended to increase with depth, with differences of up to 3.8‰ between surface waters and the oxygen minimum zone. In consequence, suspension-feeding zooplankton permanently residing at depth had up to ∼6‰ higher δ15N signals than surface-living species or diel vertical migrants. The comprehensive data set covered over 20 zooplankton taxa and indicated that three crustacean species usually are key in the zooplankton community, i.e., the copepods Calanus chilensis at the surface and Eucalanus inermis in the pronounced OMZ and the krill Euphausia mucronata, resulting in an overall low number of major trophic pathways toward anchovies. In addition, the semi-pelagic squat lobster Pleuroncodes monodon appears to play a key role in the benthic-pelagic coupling, as indicated by highest δ13C’ ratios of −14.7‰. If feeding on benthic resources and by diel vertical migration, they provide a unique pathway for returning carbon and energy from the seafloor to the epipelagic layer, increasing the food supply for pelagic fish. Overall, these mechanisms result in a very efficient food chain, channeling energy toward higher trophic positions and partially explaining the “Peruvian puzzle” of enormous fish production in the HCS.

Description: Fucoidanases are endo-fucoidanases (also known as endo-fucanases) that catalyze hydrolysis of α-glycosidic linkages in fucoidans, a family of sulfated fucose-rich polysaccharides primarily found in the cell walls of brown seaweeds. Fucoidanases are promising tools for producing bioactive fucoidan oligosaccharides for a range of biomedical applications. High sulfation degree has been linked to high bioactivity of fucoidans. In this study, a novel fucoidanase, Fhf2, was identified in the genome of the aerobic, Gram-negative marine bacterium Formosa haliotis. Fhf2 was found to share sequence similarity to known endo-α(1,4)-fucoidanases (EC 3.2.1.212) from glycoside hydrolase family 107. A C-terminal deletion mutant Fhf2∆484, devoid of 484 amino acids at the C-terminus, with a molecular weight of approximately 46 kDa, was constructed and found to be more stable than the full-length Fhf2 protein. Fhf2∆484 showed endo-fucoidanase activity on fucoidans from different seaweed species including Fucus evanescens, Fucus vesiculosus, Sargassum mcclurei, and Sargassum polycystum. The highest activity was observed on fucoidan from F. evanescens. The Fhf2∆484 enzyme was active at 20–45°C and at pH 6–9 and had optimal activity at 37°C and pH 8. Additionally, Fhf2∆484 was found to be calcium-dependent. NMR analysis showed that Fhf2∆484 catalyzed hydrolysis of α(1,4) linkages between L-fucosyl moieties sulfated on C2 (similar to Fhf1 from Formosa haliotis), but Fhf2∆484 in addition released oligosaccharides containing a substantial amount of 2,4-disulfated fucose residues. The data thus suggest that the Fhf2∆484 enzyme could be a valuable candidate for producing highly sulfated oligosaccharides applicable for fucoidan bioactivity investigations.

Description: Trichodesmium spp. is a colonial diazotrophic cyanobacterium found in the oligotrophic (sub)tropical oceans, where dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) can be depleted. To cope with low P concentrations, P can be scavenged from the dissolved organic P (DOP) pool. This requires the deployment of multiple enzymes activated by trace metals, potentially enhancing metal requirements under stronger P limitations. To test this, we grew Trichodesmium under trace-metal-controlled conditions, where P was supplied as either DIP or DOP (methylphosphonic acid). Mean steady-state biomass under the DOP treatment was only 40% of that grown under equivalent DIP supply, carbon normalized alkaline phosphorus activity was elevated 4-fold, and the zinc (Zn)–carbon ratio was elevated 3.5-fold. Our finding matches the known, dominant Zn requirement across a diversity of enzymes involved in P stress responses and supports an important interaction in the oceanic cycles of these two nutrients.

Description: Paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental reconstructions from increment-yielding archives strongly depend on precise age models. Like bivalves, corals, trees, and speleothems, the coralline alga Clathromorphum compactum produces annual growth increments and shows considerable promise as an environmental archive for arctic and subarctic regions. Though their growth increment widths correlate with temperature and sea ice cover in high Arctic regions, existing timeseries have not been crossdated. In fact, previous studies have shown a lack of inter-sample correlation in non-crossdated timeseries suggesting possible age model dating errors. Here, we use dendrochronology crossdating techniques and COFECHA software to ensure and validate synchrony between C. compactum timeseries (〈141 years) from three specimens collected near Beechey Island, Nunavut, Canada. Results showed that non-crossdated timeseries constructed by four coralline red algae researchers using annual increments of the same C. compactum samples were highly variable and showcase the likelihood of dating errors in non-crossdated timeseries. Crossdating improved inter-series correlations, and correlations to sea ice-related records, suggesting that at least three crossdated timeseries are required to isolate paleoclimate signals. Our findings suggest that future reconstructions with C. compactum should employ crossdating techniques to reduce dating errors and allow for more precise climate reconstructions.

Description: The picophytoplankton Synechococcus is a globally abundant autotroph that contributes significantly to primary production in the oceans and coastal areas. These cyanobacteria constitute a diverse genus of organisms that have developed independent niche spaces throughout aquatic environments. Here, we use the 16S V3–V4 rRNA gene region and flow cytometry to explore the diversity of Synechococcus within the picophytoplankton community in the Gullmar Fjord, on the west coast of Sweden. We conducted a station-based 1-year time series and two transect studies of the fjord. Our analysis revealed that within the large number of Synechococcus amplicon sequence variants (ASVs; 239 in total), prevalent ASVs phylogenetically clustered with clade representatives in both marine subcluster 5.1 and 5.2. The near-surface composition of ASVs shifted from spring to summer, when a 5.1 subcluster dominated community developed along with elevated Synechococcus abundances up to 9.3 × 104 cells ml–1. This seasonal dominance by subcluster 5.1 was observed over the length of the fjord (25 km), where shifts in community composition were associated with increasing depth. Unexpectedly, the community shift was not associated with changes in salinity. Synechococcus abundance dynamics also differed from that of the photosynthetic picoeukaryote community. These results highlight how seasonal variations in environmental conditions influence the dynamics of Synechococcus clades in a high latitude threshold fjord.

Description: Anthropogenic CO2 emissions cause a drop in seawater pH and shift the inorganic carbon speciation. Collectively, the term ocean acidification (OA) summarizes these changes. Few studies have examined OA effects on predatory plankton, e.g. Hydrozoa and fish larvae as well as their interaction in complex natural communities. Because Hydrozoa can seriously compete with and prey on other higher-level predators such as fish, changes in their abundances may have significant consequences for marine food webs and ecosystem services. To investigate the interaction between Hydrozoa and fish larvae influenced by OA, we enclosed a natural plankton community in Raunefjord, Norway, for 53 days in eight ≈ 58 m³ pelagic mesocosms. CO2 levels in four mesocosms were increased to ≈ 2000 µatm pCO2, whereas the other four served as untreated controls. We studied OA-induced changes at the top of the food web by following ≈2000 larvae of Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) hatched inside each mesocosm during the first week of the experiment, and a Hydrozoa population that had already established inside the mesocosms. Under OA, we detected 20% higher abundance of hydromedusae staged jellyfish, but 25% lower biomass. At the same time, survival rates of Atlantic herring larvae were higher under OA (control pCO2: 0.1%, high pCO2: 1.7%) in the final phase of the study. These results indicate that a decrease in predation pressure shortly after hatch likely shaped higher herring larvae survival, when hydromedusae abundance was lower in the OA treatment compared to control conditions. We conclude that indirect food-web mediated OA effects drove the observed changes in the Hydrozoa – fish relationship, based on significant changes in the phyto-, micro-, and mesoplankton community under high pCO2. Ultimately, the observed immediate consequences of these changes for fish larvae survival and the balance of the Hydrozoa – fish larvae predator – prey relationship has important implications for the functioning of oceanic food webs.

Description: Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) have been suggested as a suitable niche for the oxygen-sensitive process of biological fixation of dinitrogen (N2) gas. However, most N2 fixation rates reported from such waters are low. This low N2 fixation activity has been proposed to result from the unusual community of N2 fixers, in which cyanobacteria were typically underrepresented. The Northern Benguela Upwelling System (North BUS) is part of one of the most productive marine ecosystems and hosts a well-developed OMZ. Although previous observations indicated low to absent N2 fixation rates, the community composition of diazotrophs needed to understand the North BUS has not been described. Here, we present a first detailed analysis of the diazotrophic diversity in the North BUS OMZ and the Angola tropical zone (ATZ), based on genetic data and isotope speciation. Consistent with a previous study, we detected a slight N deficit in the OMZ, but isotope data did not indicate any active or past N2 fixation. The diazotroph community in the North BUS was dominated by non-cyanobacterial microbes clustering with members of gamma-proteobacteria, as is typical for other OMZ regions. However, we found a strikingly high diversity of Cluster III diazotrophs not yet described in other OMZs. In contrast to previous observations, we could also identify cyanobacteria of the clades Trichodesmium sp., UCYN-A and Cyanothece sp., in surface waters connected to or above the OMZ, which were potentially active as shown by the presence of genes and transcripts of the key functional marker gene for N2 fixation, nifH. While the detection of diazotrophs and the absence of active N2 fixation (based on isotopic speciation) are consistent with other OMZ observations, the detected regional variation in the diversity and presence of cyanobacteria indicate that we still are far from understanding the role of diazotrophs in OMZs, which, however, is relevant for understanding the N cycle in OMZ waters, as well for predicting the future development of OMZ biogeochemistry in a changing ocean.

Description: The abyssal seafloor in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the NE Pacific hosts the largest abundance of polymetallic nodules in the deep sea and is being targeted as an area for potential deep-sea mining. During nodule mining, seafloor sediment will be brought into suspension by mining equipment, resulting in the formation of sediment plumes, which will affect benthic and pelagic life not naturally adapted to any major sediment transport and deposition events. To improve our understanding of sediment plume dispersion and to support the development of plume dispersion models in this specific deep-sea area, we conducted a small-scale, 12-hour disturbance experiment in the German exploration contract area in the CCZ using a chain dredge. Sediment plume dispersion and deposition was monitored using an array of optical and acoustic turbidity sensors and current meters placed on platforms on the seafloor, and by visual inspection of the seafloor before and after dredge deployment. We found that seafloor imagery could be used to qualitatively visualise the redeposited sediment up to a distance of 100 m from the source, and that sensors recording optical and acoustic backscatter are sensitive and adequate tools to monitor the horizontal and vertical dispersion of the generated sediment plume. Optical backscatter signals could be converted into absolute mass concentration of suspended sediment to provide quantitative data on sediment dispersion. Vertical profiles of acoustic backscatter recorded by current profilers provided qualitative insight into the vertical extent of the sediment plume. Our monitoring setup proved to be very useful for the monitoring of this small-scale experiment and can be seen as an exemplary strategy for monitoring studies of future, upscaled mining trials. We recommend that such larger trials include the use of AUVs for repeated seafloor imaging and water column plume mapping (optical and acoustical), as well as the use of in-situ particle size sensors and/or particle cameras to better constrain the effect of suspended particle aggregation on optical and acoustic backscatter signals.

Description: The increased fraction of first year ice (FYI) at the expense of old ice (second-year ice (SYI) and multi-year ice (MYI)) likely affects the permeability of the Arctic ice cover. This in turn influences the pathways of gases circulating therein and the exchange at interfaces with the atmosphere and ocean. We present sea ice temperature and salinity time series from different ice types relevant to temporal development of sea ice permeability and brine drainage efficiency from freeze-up in October to the onset of spring warming in May. Our study is based on a dataset collected during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) Expedition in 2019 and 2020. These physical properties were used to derive sea ice permeability and Rayleigh numbers. The main sites included FYI and SYI. The latter was composed of an upper layer of residual ice that had desalinated but survived the previous summer melt and became SYI. Below this ice a layer of new first-year ice formed. As the layer of new first-year ice has no direct contact with the atmosphere, we call it insulated first-year ice (IFYI). The residual/SYI-layer also contained refrozen melt ponds in some areas. During the freezing season, the residual/SYI-layer was consistently impermeable, acting as barrier for gas exchange between the atmosphere and ocean. While both FYI and SYI temperatures responded similarly to atmospheric warming events, SYI was more resilient to brine volume fraction changes because of its low salinity (〈 2). Furthermore, later bottom ice growth during spring warming was observed for SYI in comparison to FYI. The projected increase in the fraction of more permeable FYI in autumn and spring in the coming decades may favor gas exchange at the atmosphere-ice interface when sea ice acts as a source relative to the atmosphere. While the areal extent of old ice is decreasing, so is its thickness at the onset of freeze-up. Our study sets the foundation for studies on gas dynamics within the ice column and the gas exchange at both ice interfaces, i.e. with the atmosphere and the ocean.

Description: Measuring plankton and associated variables as part of ocean time-series stations has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of ocean biology and ecology and their ties to ocean biogeochemistry. It will open temporal scales (e.g., resolving diel cycles) not typically sampled as a function of depth. In this review we motivate the addition of biological measurements to time-series sites by detailing science questions they could help address, reviewing existing technology that could be deployed, and providing examples of time-series sites already deploying some of those technologies. We consider here the opportunities that exist through global coordination within the OceanSITES network for long-term (climate) time series station in the open ocean. Especially with respect to data management, global solutions are needed as these are critical to maximize the utility of such data. We conclude by providing recommendations for an implementation plan.

Description: Fast repetition rate fluorometry (FRRf) based on active chlorophyll fluorescence is a powerful, noninvasive tool for studying phytoplankton physiological status at high spatial and temporal resolution. The South China Sea (SCS) is one of the largest tropical–subtropical marginal seas in the world, which plays an important role in modulating regional carbon budget and climate. In this study, underway in situ FRRf measurements were carried out throughout the outer continental shelf of the northern SCS, the basin of the northern SCS, the cyclonic eddy influenced domain in the western SCS, and the basin of the southeastern SCS. Pronounced diurnal variability of FRRf-derived parameters were observed, characterized by a large midday depression and slight nocturnal depression of the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II ( F v /F m ) and a slight increase in the functional absorption cross-section of photosystem II photochemistry (σ PSII ) at noon. F v /F m at the surface was typically as low as 0.1–0.3 and exhibited higher values (~0.4) where internal waves occurred. The cyclonic eddy increased F v /F m slightly, implying that it had a limited impact on surface phytoplankton photophysiology. With proper interpretation, FRRf has been a powerful tool to assess the physiological status of phytoplankton in the sea and to correlate that to ocean dynamics in an unprecedented fine scale.

Description: In the Equatorial Atlantic nitrogen availability is assumed to control phytoplankton dynamics. However, in situ measurements of phytoplankton physiology and productivity are surprisingly sparse in comparison with the North Atlantic. In addition to the formation of the Equatorial cold tongue in the boreal summer, tropical instability waves (TIWs) and related short-term processes may locally cause episodic events of enhanced nutrient supply to the euphotic layer. Here, we assess changes in phytoplankton photophysiology in response to such episodic events as well as short-term nutrient addition experiments using a pair of custom-built fluorometers that measure chlorophyll a (Chl a) variable fluorescence and fluorescence lifetimes. The fluorometers were deployed during a transatlantic cruise along the Equator in the fall of 2019. We hypothesized that the Equatorial Atlantic is nitrogen-limited, with an increasing degree of limitation to the west where the cold tongue is not prominent, and that infrequent nitrate injection by TIW related processes are the primary source alleviating this limitation. We further hypothesized phytoplankton are well acclimated to the low levels of nitrogen, and once nitrogen is supplied, they can rapidly utilize it to stimulate growth and productivity. Across three TIW events encountered, we observed increased productivity and chlorophyll a concentration concurrent with a decreased photochemical conversion efficiency and overall photophysiological competency. Moreover, the observed decrease in photosynthetic turnover rates toward the western section suggested a 70% decrease in growth rates compared to their maximum values under nutrient-replete conditions. This decrease aligned with the increased growth rates observed following 24 h incubation with added nitrate in the western section. These results support our hypotheses that nitrogen is the limiting factor in the region and that phytoplankton are in a state of balanced growth, waiting to “body surf” waves of nutrients which fuel growth and productivity.

Description: Artificial upwelling of nutrient-rich waters and the corresponding boost in primary productivity harbor the potential to enhance marine fishery yields and strengthen the biological pump for sequestration of atmospheric CO2. There is increasing urgency to understand this technology as a “ocean-based solution” for counteracting two major challenges of the 21st century—climate change and overfishing. Yet, little is known about the actual efficacy and/or possible side effects of artificial upwelling. We conducted a large-scale off-shore mesocosm study (∼44 m3) in the oligotrophic waters of the Canary Islands to identify the community-level effects of artificial upwelling on a natural oligotrophic plankton community. Four upwelling intensities were simulated (approx. 1.5/3/5.7/10 μmol L–1 of nitrate plus phosphate and silicate) via two different upwelling modes (a singular deep-water pulse vs. recurring supply every 4 days) for 37 days. Here we present results on the response of net community production (NCP), metabolic balance and phytoplankton community composition (〈250 μm). Higher upwelling intensities yielded higher cumulative NCP. Following upwelling onset, the phytoplankton community became dominated by diatoms in all treatments, but other taxa such as Coccolithophores increased later in the experiment. The magnitude of effects on the metabolic balance scaled with the amount of added deep water, leading to (i) a balanced to net-heterotrophic system in the singular and (ii) a net-autotrophic system in the recurring upwelling treatments. Accordingly, the mode in which nutrients are supplied to an oligotrophic system plays a crucial role in the ecosystem response, with recurring upwelling leading to higher long-term positive NCP than singular upwelling. These results highlight the importance of empirically measured local responses to upwelling such as community structure and metabolism, with major implications for the potential employment of artificial upwelling as an ocean-based solution to generate (primary) production.

Description: We analyse the consistency of the delay time data in the most recent version of the ISC-EHB bulletin published by the International Seismological Centre covering the years 1964–2018. Considering that the delays are influenced by the lateral heterogeneity in the Earth’s mantle, we construct a tomographic matrix. We use singular value decomposition of the tomographic matrix for 19 707 dense clusters of earthquakes to compute objective estimates of the standard error from data that project into the null space and should be zero if there were no errors. Using a robust initial estimate of the standard deviation of the clustered delay times, we remove a small fraction of outliers before calculating the ultimate errors. We found that the errors depend on the type of body wave, depth of the earthquake (crust or mantle) and the number of decimals with which the arrival time was reported. Using these parameters, we distinguish 45 different classes of delay times for 11 different types of body waves. The errors of each class so divided generally follow a distribution that is approximately normal with a mean that ranges from 0.32 s for PKPbc waves from mantle earthquakes, to 2.82 s for S waves from shallow earthquakes bottoming in the upper mantle. The widths of the distributions of the errors themselves are small enough to serve in formal statistical quantification of the quality of fit in tomographic experiments.

Description: Researchers have recognized the potential of enzymes and metabolic pathways hidden among the unseen majority of Earth’s microorganisms for decades now. Most of the microbes expected to colonize the seafloor and its subsurface are currently uncultured. Thus, their ability and contribution to element cycling remain enigmatic. Given that the seafloor covers ∼70% of our planet, this amounts to an uncalled potential of unrecognized metabolic properties and interconnections catalyzed by this microbial dark matter. Consequently, a tremendous black box awaits discovery of novel enzymes, catalytic abilities, and metabolic properties in one of the largest habitats on Earth. This mini review summarizes the current knowledge of cultivation-dependent and -independent techniques applied to seafloor habitats to unravel the role of the microbial dark matter. It highlights the great potential that combining microbiological and biogeochemical data from in situ experiments with molecular tools has for providing a holistic understanding of bio-geo-coupling in seafloor habitats and uses hydrothermal vent systems as a case example.

Description: Global estimates see river deltas and estuaries contributing about equally to CO2 and CH4 emissions as lakes and reservoirs, despite a factor 6 smaller surface area. Assessing the horizontal gradients in dissolved gas concentrations from large river reaches to connecting canals and wetland lakes remains a challenge in many deltaic systems. To elucidate the processes affecting local CO2 and CH4 concentrations in the Romanian part of the Danube Delta, we mapped dissolved O2, N2, He and Ar using a portable gas-equilibration membrane-inlet mass spectrometer (GE-MIMS), along with CO2, CH4, water temperature and conductivity. We measured the concentrations along the aquatic continuum from a small houseboat during two campaigns, in spring and autumn, to capture different hydrological and plant growth conditions. Delta-scale concentration patterns were comparably stable across seasons. Small connecting channels were highly influenced by the riparian wetland, which was strongest in the eastern part of the biosphere reserve. These sites represented the delta’s CO2 and CH4 hotspots and showed clear signs of excess air, i.e., supersaturation of dissolved noble gases with respect to air-saturated water. As the adjacent wetland was permanently inundated, this signal was likely caused by root aeration of Phragmites australis, as opposed to traditional excess air formation via water table fluctuations in the unsaturated zone. The special vegetation setting with reed growing on floating peat coincided with the highest CO2 and CH4 concentrations (〉700 μmol/L CO2 and 13 μmol/L CH4, respectively) observed in an adjacent channel. Shallow lakes, on the other hand, were major sites of photosynthetic production with O2 oversaturation reaching up to 150% in spring. The observed deficit in non-reactive gases (He, Ar and N2) indicated that the lakes were affected by O2 ebullition from macrophytes. According to our estimations, this ebullitive flux decreased O2 concentrations by up to 2 mg/L. This study highlights the effect of plant-mediated gas transfer on dissolved gas concentrations and supports recent studies stressing the need to account for ebullitive gas exchange when assessing metabolism parameters from O2 in shallow, productive settings.

Description: Submarine hydrothermal systems along active volcanic ridges and arcs are highly dynamic, responding to both oceanographic (e.g., currents, tides) and deep-seated geological forcing (e.g., magma eruption, seismicity, hydrothermalism, and crustal deformation, etc.). In particular, volcanic and hydrothermal activity may also pose profoundly negative societal impacts (tsunamis, the release of climate-relevant gases and toxic metal(loid)s). These risks are particularly significant in shallow (〈1000m) coastal environments, as demonstrated by the January 2022 submarine paroxysmal eruption by the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Volcano that destroyed part of the island, and the October 2011 submarine eruption of El Hierro (Canary Islands) that caused vigorous upwelling, floating lava bombs, and natural seawater acidification. Volcanic hazards may be posed by the Kolumbo submarine volcano, which is part of the subduction-related Hellenic Volcanic Arc at the intersection between the Eurasian and African tectonic plates. There, the Kolumbo submarine volcano, 7 km NE of Santorini and part of Santorini’s volcanic complex, hosts an active hydrothermal vent field (HVF) on its crater floor (~500m b.s.l.), which degasses boiling CO 2 –dominated fluids at high temperatures (~265°C) with a clear mantle signature. Kolumbo’s HVF hosts actively forming seafloor massive sulfide deposits with high contents of potentially toxic, volatile metal(loid)s (As, Sb, Pb, Ag, Hg, and Tl). The proximity to highly populated/tourist areas at Santorini poses significant risks. However, we have limited knowledge of the potential impacts of this type of magmatic and hydrothermal activity, including those from magmatic gases and seismicity. To better evaluate such risks the activity of the submarine system must be continuously monitored with multidisciplinary and high resolution instrumentation as part of an in-situ observatory supported by discrete sampling and measurements. This paper is a design study that describes a new long-term seafloor observatory that will be installed within the Kolumbo volcano, including cutting-edge and innovative marine-technology that integrates hyperspectral imaging, temperature sensors, a radiation spectrometer, fluid/gas samplers, and pressure gauges. These instruments will be integrated into a hazard monitoring platform aimed at identifying the precursors of potentially disastrous explosive volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, landslides of the hydrothermally weakened volcanic edifice and the release of potentially toxic elements into the water column.

Description: Deep coral-dominated communities play paramount roles in benthic environments by increasing their complexity and biodiversity. Coral-associated microbes are crucial to maintain fitness and homeostasis at the holobiont level. However, deep-sea coral biology and their associated microbiomes remain largely understudied, and less from remote and abyssal environments such as those in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCZ) in the tropical Northeast (NE) Pacific Ocean. Here, we study microbial-associated communities of abyssal gorgonian corals and anemones (〉4,000 m depth) in the CCZ; an area harboring the largest known global reserve of polymetallic nodules that are commercially interesting for the deep-sea nodule mining. Coral samples (n = 25) belonged to Isididae and Primnoidae families, while anemones (n = 4) to Actinostolidae family. Significant differences in bacterial community compositions were obtained between these three families, despite sharing similar habitats. Anemones harbored bacterial microbiomes composed mainly of Hyphomicrobiaceae, Parvibaculales, and Pelagibius members. Core microbiomes of corals were mainly dominated by different Spongiibacteraceae and Terasakiellaceae bacterial members, depending on corals’ taxonomy. Moreover, the predicted functional profiling suggests that deep-sea corals harbor bacterial communities that allow obtaining additional energy due to the scarce availability of nutrients. This study presents the first report of microbiomes associated with abyssal gorgonians and anemones and will serve as baseline data and crucial insights to evaluate and provide guidance on the impacts of deep-sea mining on these key abyssal communities.

Description: Assessing the status of ocean acidification across ocean and coastal waters requires standardized procedures at all levels of data collection, dissemination, and analysis. Standardized procedures for assuring quality and accessibility of ocean carbonate chemistry data are largely established, but a common set of best practices for ocean acidification trend analysis is needed to enable global time series comparisons, establish accurate records of change, and communicate the current status of ocean acidification within and outside the scientific community. Here we expand upon several published trend analysis techniques and package them into a set of best practices for assessing trends of ocean acidification time series. These best practices are best suited for time series capable of characterizing seasonal variability, typically those with sub-seasonal (ideally monthly or more frequent) data collection. Given ocean carbonate chemistry time series tend to be sparse and discontinuous, additional research is necessary to further advance these best practices to better address uncharacterized variability that can result from data discontinuities. This package of best practices and the associated open-source software for computing and reporting trends is aimed at helping expand the community of practice in ocean acidification trend analysis. A broad community of practice testing these and new techniques across different data sets will result in improvements and expansion of these best practices in the future.

Description: Climate change is expected to alter the intensity and frequency of upwelling in high productive coastal regions, thus impacting nutrient fluxes, primary productivity and consequently carbon cycling. However, it is unknown how these changes will impact the planktonic (phytoplankton and bacteria) community structure, which affects community respiration (CR) and hence the carbon available for sequestration or transfer to upper trophic levels. Here we present results from a 37-day mesocosm experiment where we examined the response of CR to nutrient additions by simulating upwelling events at different intensities (low, medium, high and extreme) and modes (singular and recurring additions). We also analysed the potential contribution of different plankton size classes and functional groups to CR. The trend in accumulated CR with respect to nutrient fertilisation (total nitrogen added during the experiment) was linear in the two modes. Microplankton (mostly diatoms) and nanoplankton (small flagellates) dominated under extreme upwelling intensities and high CR in both singular and recurring upwelling modes, explaining 〉65% of the observed variability in CR. In contrast, prokaryotic picoplankton (heterotrophic bacteria and autotrophic cyanobacteria) explained 〈43% of the variance in CR under the rest of the upwelling intensities and modes tested. Changes in planktonic community structure, while modulating CR variability, would regulate the metabolic balance of the ecosystem, shifting it towards net-heterotrophy when the community is dominated by small heterotrophs and to net-autotrophy when large autotrophs prevail; although depending on the mode in which nutrients are supplied to the system. This shift in the dominance of planktonic organism will hence affect not only CR but also carbon sequestration in upwelling regions

Description: Marine sedimentary archives are routinely used to reconstruct past environmental changes. In many cases, bioturbation and sedimentary mixing affect the proxy time-series and the age-depth relationship. While idealized models of bioturbation exist, they usually assume homogeneous mixing, thus that a single sample is representative for the sediment layer it is sampled from. However, it is largely unknown to which extent this assumption holds for sediments used for paleoclimate reconstructions. To shed light on 1) the age-depth relationship and its full uncertainty, 2) the magnitude of mixing processes affecting the downcore proxy variations, and 3) the representativity of the discrete sample for the sediment layer, we designed and performed a case study on South China Sea sediment material which was collected using a box corer and which covers the last glacial cycle. Using the radiocarbon content of foraminiferal tests as a tracer of time, we characterize the spatial age-heterogeneity of sediments in a three-dimensional setup. In total, 118 radiocarbon measurements were performed on defined small- and large-volume bulk samples ( ∼ 200 specimens each) to investigate the horizontal heterogeneity of the sediment. Additionally, replicated measurements on small numbers of specimens (10 × 5 specimens) were performed to assess the heterogeneity within a sample volume. Visual assessment of X-ray images and a quantitative assessment of the mixing strength show typical mixing from bioturbation corresponding to around 10 cm mixing depth. Notably, our 3D radiocarbon distribution reveals that the horizontal heterogeneity (up to 1,250 years), contributing to the age uncertainty, is several times larger than the typically assumed radiocarbon based age-model error (single errors up to 250 years). Furthermore, the assumption of a perfectly bioturbated layer with no mixing underneath is not met. Our analysis further demonstrates that the age-heterogeneity might be a function of sample size; smaller samples might contain single features from the incomplete mixing and are thus less representative than larger samples. We provide suggestions for future studies, optimal sampling strategies for quantitative paleoclimate reconstructions and realistic uncertainty in age models, as well as discuss possible implications for the interpretation of paleoclimate records.

Description: Hydrothermal vents are a source of many trace metals to the oceans. Compared to mid-ocean ridges, hydrothermal vent systems at arcs occur in shallower water depth and are much more diverse in fluid composition, resulting in highly variable water column trace metal concentrations. However, only few studies have focused on trace metal dynamics in hydrothermal plumes at volcanic arcs. During R/V Sonne cruise SO253 in 2016/2017, hydrothermal plumes from two hydrothermally active submarine volcanoes along the Kermadec arc in the Southwest Pacific Ocean were sampled: (1) Macauley, a magmatic dominated vent site located in water depths between 300 and 680 m, and (2) Brothers, located between 1,200 and 1,600 m water depth, where hydrothermalism influenced by water rock interactions and magmatically influenced vent sites occur near each other. Surface currents estimated from satellite-altimeter derived currents and direct measurements at the sites using lowered acoustic Doppler current profilers indicate the oceanic regime is dominated by mesoscale eddies. At both volcanoes, results indicated strong plumes of dissolved trace metals, notably Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, La, and Pb, some of which are essential micronutrients. Dissolved metal concentrations commonly decreased with distance from the vents, as to be expected, however, certain element/Fe ratios increased, suggesting a higher solubility of these elements and/or their stronger stabilization (e.g., for Zn compared to Fe). Our data indicate that at the magmatically influenced Macauley and Brothers cone sites, the transport of trace metals is strongly controlled by sulfide nanoparticles, while at the Brothers NW caldera wall site iron oxyhydroxides seem to dominate the trace metal transport over sulfides. Solution stabilization of trace metals by organic complexation appears to compete with particle adsorption processes. As well as extending the generally sparse data set for hydrothermal plumes at volcanic arc systems, our study presents the first data on several dissolved trace metals in the Macauley system, and extends the existing plume dataset of Brothers volcano. Our data further indicate that chemical signatures and processes at arc volcanoes are highly diverse, even on small scales.

Description: Understanding and sustainably managing complex environments such as marine ecosystems benefits from an integrated approach to ensure that information about all relevant components and their interactions at multiple and nested spatiotemporal scales are considered. This information is based on a wide range of ocean observations using different systems and approaches. An integrated approach thus requires effective collaboration between areas of expertise in order to improve coordination at each step of the ocean observing value chain, from the design and deployment of multi-platform observations to their analysis and the delivery of products, sometimes through data assimilation in numerical models. Despite significant advances over the last two decades in more cooperation across the ocean observing activities, this integrated approach has not yet been fully realized. The ocean observing system still suffers from organizational silos due to independent and often disconnected initiatives, the strong and sometimes destructive competition across disciplines and among scientists, and the absence of a well-established overall governance framework. Here, we address the need for enhanced organizational integration among all the actors of ocean observing, focusing on the occidental systems. We advocate for a major evolution in the way we collaborate, calling for transformative scientific, cultural, behavioral, and management changes. This is timely because we now have the scientific and technical capabilities as well as urgent societal and political drivers. The ambition of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) and the various efforts to grow a sustainable ocean economy and effective ocean protection efforts all require a more integrated approach to ocean observing. After analyzing the barriers that currently prevent this full integration within the occidental systems, we suggest nine approaches for breaking down the silos and promoting better coordination and sharing. These recommendations are related to the organizational framework, the ocean science culture, the system of recognition and rewards, the data management system, the ocean governance structure, and the ocean observing drivers and funding. These reflections are intended to provide food for thought for further dialogue between all parties involved and trigger concrete actions to foster a real transformational change in ocean observing

Description: Seabed methane gas emissions occur worldwide at cold seeps located along most continental margins. Fluxes of methane gas released from the seabed in the form of bubbles can be extremely variable even over short time intervals. Some factors controlling the variability are still poorly understood. Here, we report on the results of continuous long-term sonar monitoring of bubble emissions at a depth of 1,260 m on the Clayoquot Slope, northern Cascadia margin. With a total monitoring duration of 4 years and a sampling period of 1 h, this is by far the longest high temporal resolution monitoring of seabed methane gas release ever conducted. Our results provide evidence that the diurnal and semi-diurnal tides influence the timing of the onset and cessation of bubble emissions. However, gas emissions within the monitoring area are active more than 84% of the time, indicating that tides alone are not sufficient to make venting pause. We hypothesize that the gas fluxes are transient but generally sufficiently high to maintain ebullition independently of the tidally-induced bottom pressure variations. Results also show that the tides do not seem to modulate the vigor of active gas emissions.

Description: Enhanced weathering of mafic and ultra-mafic minerals has been suggested as a strategy for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and a contribution to achieve a balance between global CO2 sources and sinks (net zero emission). This study was designed to assess CDR by dissolution of ultramafic sand (UMS) in artificial seawater (ASW). Fine grained UMS with an olivine content of ~75% was reacted in ASW for up to 134 days at 1 bar and 21.5–23.9°C. A decline in total alkalinity (TA) was observed over the course of the experiments. This unexpected result indicates that TA removal via precipitation of cation-rich authigenic phases exceeded the production of TA induced by olivine dissolution. The TA decline was accompanied by a decrease in dissolved inorganic carbon and Ca concentrations presumably induced by CaCO3 precipitation. Temporal changes in dissolved Si, Ca, Mg, and TA concentrations observed during the experiments were evaluated by a numerical model to identify secondary mineral phases and quantify rates of authigenic phase formation. The modeling indicates that CaCO3, FeOOH and a range of Mg-Si-phases were precipitated during the experiments. Chemical analysis of precipitates and reacted UMS surfaces confirmed that these authigenic phases accumulated in the batch reactors. Nickel released during olivine dissolution, a potential toxic element for certain organisms, was incorporated in the secondary phases and is thus not a suitable proxy for dissolution rates as proposed by earlier studies. The overall reaction stoichiometry derived from lab experiments was applied in a box model simulating atmospheric CO2 uptake in a continental shelf setting induced by olivine addition. The model results indicate that CO2 uptake is reduced by a factor of 5 due to secondary mineral formation and the buffering capacity of seawater. In comparable natural settings, olivine addition may thus be a less efficient CDR method than previously believed.

Description: The highest concentration of cold seep sites worldwide has been observed along convergent margins, where fluid migration through sedimentary sequences is enhanced by tectonic deformation and dewatering of marine sediments. In these regions, gas seeps support thriving chemosynthetic ecosystems increasing productivity and biodiversity along the margin. In this paper, we combine seismic reflection, multibeam and split-beam hydroacoustic data to identify, map and characterize five known sites of active gas seepage. The study area, on the southern Hikurangi Margin off the North Island of Aotearoa/New Zealand, is a well-established gas hydrate province and has widespread evidence for methane seepage. The combination of seismic and hydroacoustic data enable us to investigate the geological structures underlying the seep sites, the origin of the gas in the subsurface and the associated distribution of gas flares emanating from the seabed. Using multi-frequency split-beam echosounder (EK60) data we constrain the volume of gas released at the targeted seep sites that lie between 1,110 and 2,060 m deep. We estimate the total deep-water seeps in the study area emission between 8.66 and 27.21 × 10 6 kg of methane gas per year. Moreover, we extrpolate methane fluxes for the whole Hikurangi Margin based on an existing gas seep database, that range between 2.77 × 10 8 and 9.32 × 10 8 kg of methane released each year. These estimates can result in a potential decrease of regional pH of 0.015–0.166 relative to the background value of 7.962. This study provides the most quantitative assessment to date of total methane release on the Hikurangi Margin. The results have implications for understanding what drives variation in seafloor biological communities and ocean biogeochemistry in subduction margin cold seep sites.

Description: The products of eruptive and mass-wasting processes that built island arc volcanoes are better preserved in marine deposits than on land. Holes U1397A and U1399A drilled during IODP Expedition 340 provide a 1.5 Ma record of the volcanic history of Martinique. 14C dating and δ18O patterns are used to reconstitute the chronostratigraphy of tephra, volcaniclastic turbidites, and mass-wasting events (traced by debris avalanches, debrites, and duplication and deformation of pre-existing sediments), leading to a new volcanic history of Montagne Pelée and Pitons du Carbet volcanoes. The top 50 m of core U1397A provides a continuous high-resolution sedimentation record over the last ∼130 ka. The sedimentation record deeper than 50 m in core U1397A and in the whole core U1399A is discontinuous because of the numerous sliding and deformation events triggered by debris avalanches related to flank collapses. Three successive activity periods are identified since ∼190 ka: the “Old Pelée” until 50 ka, the “Grand Rivière” (50–20 ka), and the “Recent Pelée” (20 ka—present day). The first two periods have the highest volcanic deposition rates offshore but very little outcrop on land. The whole magmatic activity of Mt Pelée comprises silicic andesites, but mafic andesites were also emitted during the whole “Grand Rivière.” At ∼115 ka, a major flank collapse (“Le Prêcheur”) produced a debris avalanche and submarine landslide that affected sea floor sediments by erosion and deformation up to ∼70 km from the shore. The Pitons du Carbet volcano was active from 1.2 Ma to 260 ka with numerous large flank collapses at a mean rate of 1 event every 100 ka. The average deposition rate of tephra fall offshore is much less than that at Mt Pelée. Our data show that correlations between the timing of large landslides or emission of mafic magmas and rapid sea level rise or lowstands suggested by previous studies are not systematic. The reconstituted chronostratigraphy of cores U1397A and U1399A provides the framework necessary for further studies of the magma petrology and production rates and timing of the mechanisms triggering flank collapses and related submarine landslides of Mt Pelée and Pitons du Carbet.

Description: The occurrence of mantle-derived peridotite xenoliths in phonolitic melts is a rare phenomenon, and is commonly ascribed to a mantle origin of the phonolite. The alternative possibility, that xenoliths are transported into evolving phonolite melts by mafic magmas, has received little attention. A unique tephriphonolite lava with phonolitic groundmass composition, from the active Cumbre Vieja volcano of La Palma (Canary Islands), allows to test these models. The lava contains abundant inclusions that represent the island’s major xenolith types: kaersutite-dominated cumulates, gabbros from the lower oceanic crust, and peridotites from the mantle. Our petrological investigations indicate that the tephriphonolite magma contained 3–4 wt% H 2 O and was stored in the lower crust at around 250–350 MPa and 900–950°C, at oxidized conditions (∆NNO of 2–3). The peridotite xenoliths are mantled by complex polyphase selvages, with adjacent up to 1.6 mm wide zonations where olivine compositions change from Fo 78-86 at the selvage contact to Fo 89-91 inside the xenoliths. We carried out diffusion modelling for Fe-Mg exchange and found that the peridotites had contact with intermediate to evolved alkaline melts over decades to centuries. This timescale is comparable to that inferred for basanite-hosted peridotite xenoliths from Cumbre Vieja. The following model is proposed: differentiation of evolved melts occurs in a magma accumulation zone in the lowermost oceanic crust beneath La Palma. The evolving melts receive periodic recharge by mantle-derived mafic magmas at intervals on the order of decades to a few centuries, comparable to historic eruption recurrences (80 years on average). Some of these recharge pulses carry mantle peridotite fragments that become deposited in the accumulation zone. Thus, these xenoliths do not reflect formation of the evolved melts in the mantle. Final ascent of the tephriphonolite was triggered by magma recharge some weeks before its eruption, resulting in entrainment and thorough mingling of a mixed xenolith population (cumulates, oceanic crust gabbros, peridotites). We infer that formation of phonolites in the lower crust beneath oceanic island volcanoes, and subsequent eruption, requires a balance between rates and volumes of magma recharge pulses and of eruptive events.

Description: The simultaneous limitation of productivity by two or more nutrients, commonly referred to as nutrient co-limitation, affects microbial communities throughout the marine environment and is of profound importance because of its impacts on various biogeochemical cycles. Multiple types of co-limitation have been described, enabling distinctions based on the hypothesized mechanisms of co-limitation at a biochemical level. These definitions usually pertain to individuals and do not explicitly, or even implicitly, consider complex ecological dynamics found within a microbial community. However, limiting and co-limiting nutrients can be produced in situ by a subset of microbial community members, suggesting that interactions within communities can underpin co-limitation. To address this, we propose a new category of nutrient co-limitation, community interaction co-limitation (CIC). During CIC, one part of the community is limited by one nutrient, which results in the insufficient production or transformation of a biologically produced nutrient that is required by another part of the community, often primary producers. Using cobalamin (vitamin B12) and nitrogen fixation as our models, we outline three different ways CIC can arise based on current literature and discuss CIC’s role in biogeochemical cycles. Accounting for the inherent and complex roles microbial community interactions play in generating this type of co-limitation requires an expanded toolset – beyond the traditional approaches used to identify and study other types of co-limitation. We propose incorporating processes and theories well-known in microbial ecology and evolution to provide meaningful insight into the controls of community-based feedback loops and mechanisms that give rise to CIC in the environment. Finally, we highlight the data gaps that limit our understanding of CIC mechanisms and suggest methods to overcome these and further identify causes and consequences of CIC. By providing this framework for understanding and identifying CIC, we enable systematic examination of the impacts this co-limitation can have on current and future marine biogeochemical processes.

Description: Regional climate variability in the tropical Atlantic, from interannual to decadal time scales, is inevitably connected to changes in the strength and position of the individual components of the tropical current system with impacts on societally relevant climate hazards such as anomalous rainfall or droughts over the surrounding continents (Bourlès et al., 2019; Foltz et al., 2019). Furthermore, the lateral supply of dissolved oxygen in the tropical Atlantic upper-ocean is closely linked to the zonal current bands (Brandt et al., 2008; Brandt et al., 2012; Burmeister et al., 2020) and especially to the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) and its long-term variations with potential implications for regional marine ecosystems (Brandt et al., 2021). The eastward flowing EUC is located between 70 to 200 m depth and forms one of the strongest tropical currents with maximum velocities of up to 1 m s-1 and maximum variability on seasonal time scales (Brandt et al., 2014; Johns et al., 2014). In the intermediate to deep equatorial Atlantic, variability on longer time scales is mainly governed by alternating, vertically-stacked, zonal currents (equatorial deep jets (EDJs); Johnson and Zhang, 2003). At a fixed location, the phases of these jets are propagating downward with time, implying that parts of their energy must propagate upward towards the surface (Brandt et al., 2011). In fact, a pronounced interannual cycle of about 4.5 years, that is associated with EDJs, is projected onto surface parameters such as sea surface temperature or precipitation (Brandt et al., 2011) further demonstrating the importance of understanding equatorial circulation variability and its role in tropical climate variability. While variability in the zonal velocity component on the equator is focused on seasonal to interannual time scales (Brandt et al., 2016; Claus et al., 2016; Kopte et al., 2018), meridional velocity fluctuations dominate the intraseasonal period range (20 to 50 days) due to the presence and passage of westward propagating Tropical Instability Waves (TIWs; Grodsky et al., 2005; Bunge et al., 2007; Wenegrat and McPhaden, 2015; Tuchen et al., 2018; Specht et al., 2021). In general, intraseasonal variability in the central equatorial Atlantic is mainly attributed to TIWs in the upper ocean (Athie and Marin, 2008), while intraseasonal variability in the deep ocean is associated with the signature of equatorial Yanai waves (Ascani et al., 2015; Tuchen et al., 2018, Körner et al., 2022). The observed and modelled interaction between intraseasonal equatorial waves and the aforementioned EDJs was found to maintain the deep equatorial circulation against dissipation (Greatbatch et al., 2018; Bastin et al., 2020) pointing toward the importance of intraseasonal variability for equatorial ocean dynamics. These findings are largely based on, or underpinned by a unique and steadily expanding data set of current velocity observations in the central equatorial Atlantic Ocean. Since 2001, current velocities have been measured almost continuously as part of a multilateral collaboration, the Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA), that regularly services a moored observatory located at 0°N/23°W (Bourlès et al., 2019). The significance of this data set is characterized by the length of the time series and by the full-depth coverage of current velocity observations which allow for a detailed analysis of both upper-ocean and deep-ocean dynamics on a wide range of time scales and frequencies. For instance, it enables the decomposition of the current velocity time series into vertical modes pointing toward the existence of resonant basin modes and identifying different sources of deep intraseasonal variability (Brandt et al., 2016; Claus et al., 2016; Greatbatch et al., 2018; Tuchen et al., 2018, Körner et al. under review). Here, we present 20 years of full-depth current velocity observations at 0°N/23°W. The aim of this study is to provide the scientific community with a publicly available reference data set that could be used in manifold ways, including, for instance, the validation of ocean models or reanalysis products.

Description: Marine Heatwaves (MHWs) are ocean extreme events, characterized by anomalously high temperatures, which can have significant ecological impacts. The Northeast U.S. continental shelf is of great economical importance as it is home to a highly productive ecosystem. Local warming rates exceed the global average and the region experienced multiple MHWs in the last decade with severe consequences for regional fisheries. Due to the lack of subsurface observations, the depth-extent of MHWs is not well-known, which hampers the assessment of impacts on pelagic and benthic ecosystems. This study utilizes a global ocean circulation model with a high-resolution (1/20°) nest in the Atlantic to investigate the depth structure of MHWs and associated drivers on the Northeast U.S. continental shelf. It is shown that MHWs exhibit varying spatial extents, with some only occurring at depth. The highest intensities are found around 100 m depth with temperatures exceeding the climatological mean by up to 7°C, while surface intensities are typically smaller (around 3°C). Distinct vertical structures are associated with different spatial MHW patterns and drivers. Investigation of the co-variability of temperature and salinity reveals that over 80% of MHWs at depth (〉50 m) coincide with extreme salinity anomalies. Two case studies provide insight into opposing MHW patterns at the surface and at depth, being forced by anomalous air-sea heat fluxes and Gulf Stream warm core ring interaction, respectively. The results highlight the importance of local ocean dynamics and the need to realistically represent them in climate models.

Description: Ecosystem models need to capture biodiversity, because it is a fundamental determinant of food web dynamics and consequently of the cycling of energy and matter in ecosystems. In oceanic food webs, the plankton compartment encompasses by far most of the biomass and diversity. Therefore, capturing plankton diversity is paramount for marine ecosystem modelling. In recent years, many models have been developed, each representing different aspects of plankton diversity, but a systematic comparison remains lacking. Here we present established modelling approaches to study plankton ecology and diversity, discussing the limitations and strengths of each approach. We emphasize their different spatial and temporal resolutions and consider the potential of these approaches as tools to address societal challenges. Finally, we make suggestions as to how better integration of field and experimental data with modelling could advance understanding of both plankton biodiversity specifically and more broadly the response of marine ecosystems to environmental change, including climate change.

Description: The Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus, supports a key European fishery. Stock assessments for this species are mostly based on trawling and UnderWater TeleVision (UWTV) surveys. However, N. norvegicus are burrowing organisms and these survey methods are unable to sample or observe individuals in their burrows. To account for this, UWTV surveys generally assume that “1 burrow system = 1 animal”, due to the territorial behavior of N. norvegicus. Nevertheless, this assumption still requires in-situ validation. Here, we outline how to improve the accuracy of current stock assessments for N. norvegicus with novel ecological monitoring technologies, including: robotic fixed and mobile camera-platforms, telemetry, environmental DNA (eDNA), and Artificial Intelligence (AI). First, we outline the present status and threat for overexploitation in N. norvegicus stocks. Then, we discuss how the burrowing behavior of N. norvegicus biases current stock assessment methods. We propose that state-of-the-art stationary and mobile robotic platforms endowed with innovative sensors and complemented with AI tools could be used to count both animals and burrows systems in-situ, as well as to provide key insights into burrowing behavior. Next, we illustrate how multiparametric monitoring can be incorporated into assessments of physiology and burrowing behavior. Finally, we develop a flowchart for the appropriate treatment of multiparametric biological and environmental data required to improve current stock assessment methods.

Description: This paper presents the results of a study on the response of living benthic foraminifera to progressing environmental successions in a cold-seep ecosystem. Sediment samples were collected from Vestnesa Ridge (79°N, Fram Strait) at ~1200 m water depth. The distribution of live (Rose Bengal-stained) foraminifera were analyzed in the upper sediment layers in relation to pore water biogeochemical data together with the distribution of sulfur-bacterial mats and Siboglinidae tubeworms. At methane cold seeps, the process of environmental succession is strongly connected to the duration and strength of methane seepage and the intensity of methane-related biological processes, e.g, aerobic and anaerobic oxidation of methane (MOx and AOM, respectively). The results show that the distribution patterns of benthic foraminifera change according to the progressing environmental succession. The benthic foraminifera seemed to thrive in sediments with a moderate activity of seepage, dominated by MOx, i.e, at an early stage of seepage or when seepage decreases at a late stage of the succession. Species composition of the foraminiferal fauna under these conditions was similar to the control sites (outside of pockmarks with no seepage); the dominant species being Melonis barleeanus and Cassidulina neoteretis. In sediments with strong seepage and high AOM activity, the hostile environmental conditions due to the presence of toxic sulfide caused a reduction in the foraminiferal population, and samples were almost barren of foraminifera. In environments of moderate methane seepage, the presence of chemosynthetic Siboglinidae tube worms potentially support communities of the epibenthic species Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi. Despite the very different environmental conditions, the foraminiferal assemblages were very similar (or nearly absent). Therefore, the foraminiferal faunas cannot be used as exclusive indicators of past strength of methane seepage in palaeoceanographic interpretations.

Description: Sponges host dense and diverse communities of microbes (known as the microbiome) beneficial for the host nutrition and defense. Symbionts in turn receive shelter and metabolites from the sponge host, making their relationship beneficial for both partners. Given that sponge-microbes associations are fundamental for the survival of both, especially the sponge, such relationship is maintained through their life and even passed on to the future generations. In many organisms, the microbiome has profound effects on the development of the host, but the influence of the microbiome on the reproductive and developmental pathways of the sponges are less understood. In sponges, microbes are passed on to oocytes, sperm, embryos, and larvae (known as vertical transmission), using a variety of methods that include direct uptake from the mesohyl through phagocytosis by oocytes to indirect transmission to the oocyte by nurse cells. Such microbes can remain in the reproductive elements untouched, for transfer to offspring, or can be digested to make the yolky nutrient reserves of oocytes and larvae. When and how those decisions are made are fundamentally unanswered questions in sponge reproduction. Here we review the diversity of vertical transmission modes existent in the entire phylum Porifera through detailed imaging using electron microscopy, available metabarcoding data from reproductive elements, and macroevolutionary patterns associated to phylogenetic constraints. Additionally, we examine the fidelity of this vertical transmission and possible reasons for the observed variability in some developmental stages. Our current understanding in marine sponges, however, is that the adult microbial community is established by a combination of both vertical and horizontal (acquisition from the surrounding environment in each new generation) transmission processes, although the extent in which each mode shapes the adult microbiome still remains to be determined. We also assessed the fundamental role of filtration, the cellular structures for acquiring external microbes, and the role of the host immune system, that ultimately shapes the stable communities of prokaryotes observed in adult sponges.

Description: In the face of climate change there is a need to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Artificial upwelling of nutrient-rich deep waters has been proposed as a method to enhance the biological carbon pump in oligotrophic oceanic regions in order to increase carbon sequestration. Here we examine the effect of different artificial upwelling intensities and modes (single pulse versus recurring pulses) on the dynamics of the dissolved organic matter pool (DOM). We introduced nutrient-rich deep water to large scale mesocosms (~44 m3) in the oligotrophic subtropical North Atlantic and found that artificial upwelling strongly increased DOM concentrations and changed its characteristics. The magnitude of the observed changes was related to the upwelling intensity: more intense treatments led to higher accumulation of dissolved organic carbon (〉70 μM of excess DOC over ambient waters for the most intense) and to comparatively stronger changes in DOM characteristics (increased proportions of chromophoric DOM (CDOM) and humic-like fluorescent DOM), suggesting a transformation of the DOM pool at the molecular level. Moreover, the single upwelling pulse resulted in higher CDOM quantities with higher molecular weight than the recurring upwelling mode. Together, our results indicate that under artificial upwelling, large DOM pools may accumulate in the surface ocean without being remineralized in the short-term. Possible reasons for this persistence could be a combination of the molecular diversification of DOM due to microbial reworking, nutrient limitation and reduced metabolic capabilities of the prokaryotic communities within the mesocosms. Our study demonstrates the importance of the DOC pool when assessing the carbon sequestration potential of artificial upwelling.

Description: Legal requirement in Europe asks for Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (EBFM) in European seas, including consideration of trophic interactions and minimization of negative impacts of fishing on food webs and ecosystem functioning. This study presents the first mass-balanced ecosystem model focused on the western Baltic Sea (WBS). Results show that heavy fishing pressure exerted on the WBS has forced top predators such as harbour porpoise and cod to cover their dietary needs by shifting from forage fish to other prey or find food outside of the model area. The model was then developed to explore the dynamics of four future fishery scenarios: (1) business as usual (BAU), (2) maximum sustainable fishing (F = FMSY), (3) half of FMSY, and (4) EBFM with F = 0.5 FMSY for forage fish and F = 0.8 FMSY for other fish. Simulations show that BAU would perpetuate low catches from depleted stocks with a high risk of extinction for harbour porpoise. In contrast, the EBFM scenario would allow the recovery of harbour porpoise, forage fish and cod with increases in catch of herring and cod. EBFM promotes ecosystem resilience to eutrophication and ocean warming, and through the rebuilding of commercial stocks increases by more than three times carbon sequestration compared to BAU. The model provides an interrelated assessment of trophic guilds in the WBS, as required by European law to assess whether European seas are in good environmental status.

Description: Artificial upwelling brings nutrient-rich deep water to the sun-lit surface to boost fisheries or carbon sequestration. Deep water sources under consideration range widely in inorganic silicon (Si) relative to nitrogen (N). Yet, little is known about how such differences in nutrient composition may influence the effectiveness of the fertilization. Si is essential primarily for diatoms that may increase food web and export efficiency via their large size and ballasting mineral shells, respectively. With a month-long mesocosm study in the subtropical North Atlantic, we tested the biological response to artificial upwelling with varying Si:N ratios (0.07-1.33). Community biomass increased 10-fold across all mesocosms, indicating that basic bloom dynamics were upheld despite the wide range in nutrient composition. Key properties of these blooms, however, were influenced by Si. Photosynthetic capacity and nutrient-use efficiency doubled from Si-poor to Si-rich upwelling, leading to C:N ratios as high as 17, well beyond Redfield. Si-rich upwelling also resulted in 6-fold higher diatom abundance and mineralized Si and a corresponding shift from smaller towards larger phytoplankton. The pronounced change in both plankton quantity (biomass) and quality (C:N ratio, size and mineral ballast) for trophic transfer and export underlines the pivotal role of Si in shaping the response of oligotrophic regions to upwelled nutrients. Our findings indicate a benefit of active Si management during artificial upwelling with the potential to optimize fisheries production and CO2 removal.

Description: Anthropogenic activities are modifying the oceanic environment rapidly and are causing ocean warming and deoxygenation, affecting biodiversity, productivity, and biogeochemical cycling. In coastal sediments, anaerobic organic matter degradation essentially fuels the production of hydrogen sulfide and methane. The release of these compounds from sediments is detrimental for the (local) environment and entails socio-economic consequences. Therefore, it is vital to understand which microbes catalyze the re-oxidation of these compounds under environmental dynamics, thereby mitigating their release to the water column. Here we use the seasonally dynamic Boknis Eck study site (SW Baltic Sea), where bottom waters annually fall hypoxic or anoxic after the summer months, to extrapolate how the microbial community and its activity reflects rising temperatures and deoxygenation. During October 2018, hallmarked by warmer bottom water and following a hypoxic event, modeled sulfide and methane production and consumption rates are higher than in March at lower temperatures and under fully oxic bottom water conditions. The microbial populations catalyzing sulfide and methane metabolisms are found in shallower sediment zones in October 2018 than in March 2019. DNA-and RNA profiling of sediments indicate a shift from primarily organotrophic to (autotrophic) sulfide oxidizing Bacteria, respectively. Previous studies using data collected over decades demonstrate rising temperatures, decreasing eutrophication, lower primary production and thus less fresh organic matter transported to the Boknis Eck sediments. Elevated temperatures are known to stimulate methanogenesis, anaerobic oxidation of methane, sulfate reduction and essentially microbial sulfide consumption, likely explaining the shift to a phylogenetically more diverse sulfide oxidizing community based on RNA.

Description: Introduction: Historically considered to be a single cosmopolitan species, the so called Octopus vulgaris species complex (OVSC) is now recognized to be a group of (at least) six cryptic species: O. americanus (in the west Atlantic), O. vulgaris (in the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea), O. aff. vulgaris (in the region of South Africa), O. tetricus (southeastern Oceania), O. sinensis (northwestern Pacific), and O. djinda (western Australia). The potentially different environmental preferences of this highly cryptic species complex may result in distinct consequences under future environmental conditions. Methods: The present study employed species distribution models (SDM) using MaxEnt to investigate potential changes in habitat suitability and geographical distribution of the OVSC in the future (i.e., 2050, and 2100), across four representative concentration pathway scenarios (RCP-2.6, 4.5, 6.0, and 8.5, CMIP5). Results: Differential responses were observed in the OVSC species analyzed. Specifically, O. vulgaris and O. tetricus exhibited a severe loss in distribution across their predicted range; O. americanus exhibited projected extirpation close to the equator, with limited expansion towards the poles; O. aff. vulgaris was projected to lose half of its current distribution; O. sinensis exhibited moderate losses, with projected increases in northern areas; and finally, O. djinda exhibited limited losses to its distribution. Except for O. sinensis, increasing RCP severity exacerbated changes in mean habitat suitability and projected distribution gains and losses. Discussion: Ultimately, this study provides information on the potential biogeographical effects of marine climate change on a key worldwide ecological and economic resource to further disentangle the effects over each OVSC species, with the goal of assisting toward the sustainable management of octopus species at the global scale.

Description: Ocean warming and acidification will be most pronounced in the Arctic. Both phenomena severely threat thecosome pteropods (holoplanktonic marine gastropods) by reducing their survival (warming) and causing dissolution of their aragonitic shell (acidification). Lipids, particularly phospholipids, play a major role in veligers and juveniles of the polar thecosome pteropod \textit{Limacina helicina} (Phipps 1774) comprising over two thirds of their total lipids. Membrane lipids (phospholipids) are important in temperature acclimation of ectotherms. Hence, we experimentally investigated ocean warming and acidification effects on total lipids, lipid classes and fatty acids of Arctic early-stage \textit{L. helicina}. Temperature and pCO\textsubscript{2} treatments chosen resembled Representative Concentration Pathway model scenarios for this century. We found a massive decrease of total lipids at elevated temperature and at the highest CO\textsubscript{2} concentration (1100 $\mu$atm) of the \textit{in situ} temperature. Clearly, temperature was the overriding factor. Total lipids were reduced by 47--70\%, mainly caused by a reduction of phospholipids by up to 60\%. Further, based on pH\textsubscript{T} development in the incubation water of pteropods during the experiment, some evidence exists for metabolic downregulation (shutdown?) in pteropods at high factor levels of temperature and pCO\textsubscript{2}. Consequently, cell differentiation and energy balance of early-stage larvae was probably severely compromised. Comparison of our experimental with 'wild' organisms suggests phospholipid reduction to values clearly outside natural variability. Based on the well-known significance of phospholipids for membranogenesis, early development, and reproduction, negative warming effects on such a basal metabolic function may be a much more immediate threat for pteropods than so far anticipated shell dissolution effects due to acidification.

Description: The recent rapid growth in aquaculture production reported by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization may have inadvertently generated what we denote here as aquaculture over-optimism. An extreme form of this is the notion that we need not worry about sustaining wild fish stocks because we can meet the global need through farming. Here we investigate whether the recent growth in aquaculture production can be maintained, and we compare aquaculture production projections with the future need for fish to find out whether aquaculture over-optimism can be justified. We show relevant evidence suggesting that aquaculture growth rates in all the cases studied have already reached their peak and have begun declining. Also, our results indicate that without wild fish, the world will face a fish food shortage of about 71 million tonnes annually by 2030, and the aquaculture production growth rate would have to be 3 times current average projected production by the FAO, the World Bank and the OECD in 2030. Finally, the current geographical distribution of farmed fish production suggests that even if aquaculture over-optimism is physically, economically, technically and ecologically feasible, its socio-economic cost to low-income coastal countries could be devastating.

Description: The use of cephalopod beaks in ecological and population dynamics studies has allowed major advances of our knowledge on the role of cephalopods in marine ecosystems in the last 60 years. Since the 1960’s, with the pioneering research by Malcolm Clarke and colleagues, cephalopod beaks (also named jaws or mandibles) have been described to species level and their measurements have been shown to be related to cephalopod body size and mass, which permitted important information to be obtained on numerous biological and ecological aspects of cephalopods in marine ecosystems. In the last decade, a range of new techniques has been applied to cephalopod beaks, permitting new kinds of insight into cephalopod biology and ecology. The workshop on cephalopod beaks of the Cephalopod International Advisory Council Conference (Sesimbra, Portugal) in 2022 aimed to review the most recent scientific developments in this field and to identify future challenges, particularly in relation to taxonomy, age, growth, chemical composition (i.e., DNA, proteomics, stable isotopes, trace elements) and physical (i.e., structural) analyses. In terms of taxonomy, new techniques (e.g., 3D geometric morphometrics) for identifying cephalopods from their beaks are being developed with promising results, although the need for experts and reference collections of cephalopod beaks will continue. The use of beak microstructure for age and growth studies has been validated. Stable isotope analyses on beaks have proven to be an excellent technique to get valuable information on the ecology of cephalopods (namely habitat and trophic position). Trace element analyses is also possible using beaks, where concentrations are significantly lower than in other tissues (e.g., muscle, digestive gland, gills). Extracting DNA from beaks was only possible in one study so far. Protein analyses can also be made using cephalopod beaks. Future challenges in research using cephalopod beaks are also discussed.

Description: It has long been hypothesized that the last glacial maximum (LGM) oversaw cold, arid, windy climates across southern Australia, and that these were driven by intensification and northward expansion of mid-latitude westerly circulation. Moreover, it was recently suggested that Australia experienced an extended LGM which began several millennia before the global peak. Aeolian sedimentary deposits provide key evidence for these hypotheses, and climate modelling an alternative means to test them. As yet, however, combined approaches to reconstructing glacial environments on the continent are scarce. Here we provide new evidence for westerly wind regimes across glacial southeastern Australia. We confirm active transverse lunette deposition at c. 29 ka and c. 23–19 ka in the semi-arid Willandra Lakes, and identify aeolian sand incursions to Spring Creek on the temperate Western Victorian Volcanic Plains from c. 29 ka. The Spring Creek deposits contain a surprising quantity of sand-sized quartz given the basalt setting, which we propose to be allochthonous and likely transported some distance. The site lies more than 50 km east and south of dunefields which were active at the same time and may have contributed sediment via long distance transport. We investigate the hypothesis for northward glacial expansion of westerly winds by combining our sediment records with aeolian particle transport simulations. We find that LGM near-surface winds were dominated by stronger, more focussed westerly air flow across southeastern Australia, compared with presently more diffuse wind regimes. Our results suggest stronger potential for LGM eastward distal sand transport onto the basalt plains, coeval with enhanced aeolian activity in the semi-arid Australian dunefields. Our combined reconstruction of aeolian deposition and trajectory modelling confirms the extended LGM hypothesis and indicates a northward migration of westerly winds over southeastern Australia during this period.

Description: Regrowth of body parts occurs in almost every phylum of the animal kingdom, but variation in this process across environmental, morphological, and behavioral gradients remains poorly understood. We examined regeneration patterns in feather stars – a group known for a wide range of morphologies and behaviors and up to a forty-fold difference in arm regeneration rates – and found that the variation in arm regeneration rates is best explained by swimming ability, not temperature, food supply, morphology (total number of arms and number of regenerating arms), or degree of injury. However, there were significant interactive effects of morphology on rates of regeneration of the main effect (swimming ability). Notably, swimmers grew up to three-fold faster than non-swimmers. The temperate feather star Florometra serratissima regenerated faster under warmer scenarios, but its rates fell within that of the tropical species suggesting temperature can account for intraspecific but not interspecific differences. We urge comparative molecular investigations of crinoid regeneration to identify the mechanisms responsible for the observed interspecific differences, and potentially address gaps in stem cell research.

Description: Low-salinity stress can severely affect the fitness of marine organisms. As desalination has been predicted for many coastal areas with ongoing climate change, it is crucial to gain more insight in mechanisms that constrain salinity acclimation ability. Low-salinity induced depletion of the organic osmolyte pool has been suggested to set a critical boundary in osmoconforming marine invertebrates. Whether inorganic ions also play a persistent role during low-salinity acclimation processes is currently inconclusive. We investigated the salinity tolerance of six marine invertebrate species following a four-week acclimation period around their low-salinity tolerance threshold. To obtain complete osmolyte budgets, we quantified organic and inorganic osmolytes and determined fitness proxies. Our experiments corroborated the importance of the organic osmolyte pool during low-salinity acclimation. Methylamines constituted a large portion of the organic osmolyte pool in molluscs, whereas echinoderms exclusively utilized free amino acids. Inorganic osmolytes were involved in long-term cellular osmoregulation in most species, thus are not just modulated with acute salinity stress. The organic osmolyte pool was not depleted at low salinities, whilst fitness was severely impacted. Instead, organic and inorganic osmolytes often stabilized at low-salinity. These findings suggest that low-salinity acclimation capacity cannot be simply predicted from organic osmolyte pool size. Rather, multiple parameters (i.e. osmolyte pools, net growth, water content and survival) are necessary to establish critical salinity ranges. However, a quantitative knowledge of cellular osmolyte systems is key to understand the evolution of euryhalinity and to characterize targets of selection during rapid adaptation to ongoing desalination.

Description: Artificial upwelling has been proposed as a means of enhancing oceanic CO2 sequestration and/or raising fishery yields through an increase in primary production in unproductive parts of the ocean. However, evidence of its efficacy, applicability and side effects is scarce. Here we present part of the results of a 37-day mesocosm study conducted in oligotrophic waters off the coast of Gran Canaria. The goal was to assess in situ the effects of artificial upwelling on the pelagic community. Upwelling was simulated via two modes: i) a singular deep-water pulse and ii) a recurring supply every 4 days; each mode at four different intensities defined by the total amount of nitrate added: approx. 1.5, 3, 5.7, and 11 µmol L-1. In this study we focus on the phytoplankton response through size-fractionated 14C primary production rates (PP), Chlorophyll a and biomass. We observed increases in PP, accumulated PP, Chlorophyll a and biomass that scaled linearly with upwelling intensity. Upwelling primarily benefitted larger phytoplankton size fractions, causing a shift from pico- and nano- to nano- and microphytoplankton. Recurring deep-water addition produced more biomass under higher upwelling intensities than a single pulse addition. It also reached significantly higher accumulated PP per unit of added nutrients and showed a stronger reduction in percentage extracellular release with increasing upwelling intensity. These results demonstrate that oligotrophic phytoplankton communities can effectively adjust to artificial upwelling regardless of upwelling intensity, but differently depending on the upwelling mode. Recurring supply of upwelled waters generated higher efficiencies in primary production and biomass build-up than a single pulse of the same volume and nutrient load.