Campbell, Robert (Rob): Prince William Sound Science Center (Project Lead)
Crusius, John: USGS (Co-Investigator)
Gasso, Santiago: NASA/GESTAR (Co-Investigator)
Schroth, Andrew: UVM (Co-Investigator)
Thomas, Andrew: U. Maine (Co-Investigator)
Welker, Jeffrey: University of Alaska Anchorage (Co-Investigator)
Project Funding:
2010 - 2013
NRA: 2009 NASA: Interdisciplinary Research in Earth Science
Funded by NASA
Abstract:
The coastal Gulf of Alaska (GoA) region is experiencing accelerating climate change as manifested by rapid recession of glaciers: climate models predict up to a 40% increase in river runoff from Alaska rivers by 2050. Over the coming decades an increase in glacier-dominated river discharge is likely, followed by decreases as glaciers recede. Changes in freshwater discharge are likely to alter the flux of particulate micronutrient iron from glacier dominated rivers to the ocean, as well as nitrate fluxes to surface water from estuarine upwelling, with cascading effects throughout the marine ecosystem. The freshwater supply of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and nitrate may also increase over time due to colonization of deglaciated watersheds by nitrogen-fixing plants.
This project complements an ongoing USGS investigation into ice extent and wasting, hydrological changes and freshwater biogeochemistry, and the oceanography and biogeochemistry of the Copper River plume. The objective of this project is to evaluate the physical changes currently occurring in watershed of the Copper River region attributable to melting ice and climate change, and to examine their impact on the Copper River plume extending into the GoA. Work in the upper watershed is focused on terrestrial biogeochemistry, gas exchange, and terrestrial-aquatic linkages; in the coastal GoA, oceanographic surveys and remote sensing are being used to describe the oceanography of the Copper River plume; aerosol transport of particulate iron from the watershed to the deep ocean are being investigated with remote sensing, modeling, and dust collections near the shelf break.
Publications:
Schroth, A. W., Crusius, J., Gasso, S., Moy, C. M., Buck, N. J., Resing, J. A., Campbell, R. W. 2017. Atmospheric deposition of glacial iron in the Gulf of Alaska impacted by the position of the Aleutian Low. Geophysical Research Letters. 44(10), 5053-5061. DOI: 10.1002/2017GL073565
Schroth, A. W., Crusius, J., Hoyer, I., Campbell, R. 2014. Estuarine removal of glacial iron and implications for iron fluxes to the ocean. Geophysical Research Letters. 41(11), 3951-3958. DOI: 10.1002/2014GL060199
More details may be found in the following project profile(s):
