Heterogeneous timing of freshwater input into Kobbefjord,a low-arctic fjord in Greenland

The majority of freshwater input from Greenland to the global ocean stems from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Currently, almost a quarter of the freshwater flowing from Greenland is derived from catchments that are disconnected from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Despite their importance to the total freshwater flux and influence on fjord geochemistry, there is relatively little monitoring data available for those catchments and therefore the drivers of regional differences in export are largely unknown. We present a dataset of 12 years of discharge of four catchments less than 15 km apart, that are different in size (between 7 and 32 km²), local glacier coverage (4%–11%) and lake cover (0%–5%). They all drain into Kobbefjord, a well-studied fjord in West Greenland, near Greenland's capital Nuuk. Between catchments, the magnitude of discharge varies at annual, seasonal and sub-daily timescales, due to differences in physical catchment properties as well as local climate variability. We find that annual specific discharges vary greatly (between 1.2 and 1.9 m/year on a 12-year average) due to a longitudinal precipitation gradient from West to East caused by different amount of orographic precipitation shading. The seasonal cycle of discharge (amplitude, timing and minimum flow) differs among the sites mainly due to different exposure to solar radiation as a driver for major snowmelt; the small ice coverage in the catchments plays only a minor role in discharge variability. Dry years generally increase the relative differences in annual specific discharge and no significant temporal trends have been found in the studied catchments. On a sub-daily timescale, the difference in timing of maximum discharge during fair-weather days (>80% maximum solar radiation and no precipitation) ranged between 7 and 12 h, which is attributed to differences between the presence and elevation of lakes among the catchments. The response of discharge to major precipitation events is discussed, where a delay of between 5 and 7 h is found for the catchments that do not contain lakes near the gauge.     

Influence of melt‐freeze‐cycles on the radionuclide transport in homogeneous laboratory snowpack

Radionuclides released to the environment and deposited with or onto snow can be stored over long time periods if ambient temperature stays low, particularly in glaciated areas or high alpine sites. The radionuclides will be accumulated in the snowpack during the winter unless meltwater runoff at the snow base occurs. They will be released to surface waters within short time during snowmelt in spring. In two experiments under controlled melting conditions of snow in the laboratory, radionuclide migration and runoff during melt‐freeze‐cycles were examined. The distribution of Cs‐134 and Sr‐85 tracers in homogeneous snow columns and their fractionation and potential preferential elution in the first meltwater portions were determined. Transport was associated with the percolation of meltwater at ambient temperatures above 0 °C after the snowpack became ripe. Mean migration velocities in the pack were examined for both nuclides to about 0.5 cm hr^?1 after one diurnal melt‐freeze‐cycle at ambient temperatures of ?2 to 4 °C. Meltwater fluxes were calculated with a median of 1.68 cm hr^?1. Highly contaminated portions of meltwater with concentration factors between 5 and 10 against initial bulk concentrations in the snowpack were released as ionic pulse with the first meltwater. Neither for caesium nor strontium preferential elution was observed. After recurrent simulated day‐night‐cycles (?2 to 4 °C), 80% of both radionuclides was released with the first 20% of snowmelt within 4 days. 50% of Cs‐134 and Sr‐85 were already set free after 24 hr. Snowmelt contained highest specific activities when the melt rate was lowest during the freeze‐cycles due to concentration processes in remaining liquids, enhanced by the melt‐freeze‐cycling. This implies for natural snowpack after significant radionuclide releases, that long‐time accumulation of radionuclides in the snow during frost periods, followed by an onset of steady meltwater runoff at low melt rates, will cause the most pronounced removal of the contaminants from the snow cover. This scenario represents the worst case of impact on water quality and radiation exposure in aquatic environments.     

Temporal and spatial changes in marine benthic habitats in relation to the EU Water Framework Directive: The use of sediment profile imagery

In 2002 to 2006, sediment profile imagery (SPI) was used to study the environmental impact of eutrophication-induced irregular and seasonal hypoxia on marine benthic habitats in six regions in the Skagerrak and Kattegat (West Sweden). The benthic habitat quality (BHQ) was assessed by parameterisation of biogenic structures observed by the SPI technique, and benthic quality status was related to the EU Water Framework Directive (EU-WFD). The temporal changes were analysed by a 5-factor nested ANOVA and significant temporal differences were recorded within three of the regions. Two of these were affected by hypoxia in the deeper parts and one was probably affected by hypoxia below the halocline. The environmental quality status according to the EU-WFD was bad to high in two regions, moderate to good in three regions, and good to high, i.e., acceptable according to the EU-WFD, in only one region. As BHQ is highly correlated to benthic faunal data, measures have to be taken to improve the coastal water quality in five of the six studied areas.     

Trace metal levels in coastal sea water investigation of Danish waters

The concentration levels of Cd (25 ng l^?1), Cu (0.45 μg l^?1), Ni (0.48 μg l^?1), Fe (0.2–7.0 μg l^?1), Pb (40 ng l^?1) and Zn (0.80 μg l^?1) have been determined in the Danish Sounds and in the Kattegat. Different sampling techniques have been used and analyses have been carried out separately by two different investigators, both using freon-extraction followed by determination by atomic absorption spectrometry (a.a.s.). Except for iron, found mainly in the particulate phase, the metals are found predominantly in a dissolved and labile (extractable) form. The results are compared with trace metal levels found in the two main water masses entering the Kattegat—the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.     

Benthic organic carbon flux and oxygen penetration reflect different plankton provinces in the Southern Ocean

For the investigation of organic carbon fluxes reaching the seafloor, oxygen microprofiles were measured at 145 sites in different sub-regions of the Southern Ocean. At 11 sites, an in situ oxygen microprofiler was deployed for the measurement of oxygen profiles and the calculation of organic carbon fluxes. At four sites, both in situ and ex situ data were determined for high latitudes. Based on this data set as well as on previous published data, a relationship was established for the estimation of fluxes derived by ex situ measured O₂ profiles. The fluxes of labile organic matter range from 0.5 to 37.1 mg C m^?2 d^?1. The high values determined by in situ measurements were observed in the Polar Front region (water depth of more than 4290 m) and are comparable to organic matter fluxes observed for high-productivity, upwelling areas like off West Africa. The oxygen penetration depth, which reflects the long-term organic matter flux to the sediment, was correlated with assemblages of key diatom species. In the Scotia Sea (～3000 m water depth), oxygen penetration depths of less than 15 cm were observed, indicating high benthic organic carbon fluxes. In contrast, the oxic zone extends down to several decimeters in abyssal sediments of the Weddell Sea and the southeastern South Atlantic. The regional pattern of organic carbon fluxes derived from microsensor data suggests that episodic and seasonal sedimentation pulses are important for the carbon supply to the seafloor of the deep Southern Ocean.     

Phantom midge-based models for inferring past fish abundances

We sampled living and subfossil phantom midge (Diptera: Chaoboridae) larvae from surface sediments of 21 small lakes in Southern Sweden to examine the influence of fish and selected abiotic variables on the abundance and species composition of chaoborid assemblages. We expected total Chaoborus abundance to be inversely correlated with fish abundance and Chaoborus species most sensitive to fish predation to be found only in fishless lakes. We aimed to use the observed relationships to develop models to reconstruct past fish abundances from chaoborid remains and the abiotic environment. C. flavicans occurred in almost every lake, whereas subfossil C. obscuripes were found in the surface sediments of only one fishless lake. The density of living C. flavicans larvae correlated negatively with fish abundance, lake order and size. The concentration of C. flavicans subfossils was negatively associated with pH, lake size, water transparency and fish abundance. Regression models that included lake morphometry and landscape position as additional predictors of fish abundance performed better than models that used only Chaoborus predictors. The explained variance in fish abundance varied from 52 to 86%. Leave-one-out cross-validation indicated moderate performance of the two best models. These models explained 51 and 56% of the observed untransformed fish density and biomass, respectively. In addition, all Chaoborus models were unbiased in closely following the 1:1 reference line in plots of observed versus predicted values. These results are a promising step in developing midge-based paleolimnological reconstructions of past fish abundance, and the approach might be improved by including chironomid remains in the models.     

The distribution and relative toxic potential of organic chemicals in a PCB contaminated bay

For reliable monitoring of environmental improvement, the PCB contaminated bay Orserumsviken on Sweden's Baltic coast was investigated prior to remediation. We examined PCB congener patterns and the relative toxic potential of PCBs in extracts of three matrices: bottom sediment, settling particulate matter and the dissolved phase (obtained from semi-permeable membrane devices). Congener patterns were similar in all matrices. Three fractions were isolated from the extracts: (1) aliphatic and monocyclic aromatic compounds (MAC-fraction), (2) dicyclic aromatic compounds (DAC-fraction), including PCBs, and (3) polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC-fraction), including PAHs. Total extracts and fractions were injected into newly fertilised rainbow trout eggs. At larval stage, hepatic EROD activities were quantified. Though high, the PCB contamination could explain only an estimated 1-5% of the total EROD induction. The order of EROD induction potential was: total extract > PAC-fraction > DAC-fraction > MAC-fraction in all matrices, suggesting that in Orserumsviken PACs made a larger contribution to the EROD induction potential than PCBs and other DACs.