Bounding cross-shelf transport time and degradation in Siberian-Arctic land-ocean carbon transfer

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03192-1
• Publication Date: 2018-02-19T14:56:44Z
• Authors: Lisa Bröder; Tommaso Tesi; August Andersson; Igor Semiletov; Örjan Gustafsson
• Keywords: Carbon sink; Carbon fibers

The burial of terrestrial organic carbon (terrOC) in marine sediments contributes to the regulation atmospheric CO2 on geological timescales and may mitigate positive feedback present-day climate warming. However, fate terrOC settings is debated, with uncertainties regarding its degradation during transport. Here, we employ compound-specific radiocarbon analyses biomarkers determine cross-shelf transport times. For World's largest marginal sea, East Siberian Arctic shelf, requires 3600 ± 300 years for 600 km from Lena River Laptev Sea shelf edge. TerrOC was reduced by ~85% transit resulting a rate constant 2.4 0.6 kyr-1. Hence, constitutes source atmosphere over millennial time. contemporary cycle other hand, slow brings considerable attenuation decadal-centennial permafrost carbon-climate caused global