Seasonal variations of net CO2 exchange in European Arctic ecosystems

Summary  The carbon dioxide exchange in arctic and subarctic terrestrial ecosystems has been measured using the eddy-covariance method at sites representing the latitudinal and longitudinal extremes of the European Arctic sea areas as part of the Land Arctic Physical Processes (LAPP) project. The sites include two fen (Kaamanen and Kevo) and one mountain birch ecosystems in subarctic northern Finland (69° N); fen, heathland, and snowbed willow ecosystems in northeastern Greenland (74° N); and a polar semidesert site in Svalbard (79° N). The measurement results, which are given as weekly average diurnal cycles, show the striking seasonal development of the net CO₂ fluxes. The seasonal periods important for the net CO₂ fluxes, i.e. winter, thaw, pre-leaf, summer, and autumn can be identified from measurements of the physical environment, such as temperature, albedo, and greenness. During the late winter period continuous efflux is observed at the permafrost-free Kaamanen site. At the permafrost sites, efflux begins during the thaw period, which lasts about 3–5 weeks, in contrast to the Kaamanen site where efflux continues at the same rate as during the winter. Seasonal efflux maximum is during the pre-leaf period, which lasts about 2–5 weeks. The summer period lasts 6 weeks in NE Greenland but 10–14 weeks in northern Finland. During a high summer week, the mountain birch ecosystem had the highest gross photosynthetic capacity, GP _max, followed by the fen ecosystems. The polar semidesert ecosystem had the lowest GP _max. By the middle of August, noon uptake fluxes start to decrease as the solar elevation angle decreases and senescence begins within the vascular plants. At the end of the autumn period, which lasts 2–5 weeks, topsoil begins to freeze at the end of August in Svalbard; at the end of September at sites in eastern Greenland; and one month later at sites in northern Finland. Received March 1, 2000 Revised October 2, 2000     

History of Mine Drainage Impact on Lake Orijärvi Algal Communities, SW Finland

The Cu (Pb, Zn) mine of Orijärvi (1757–1956) was the first mining operation in Finland where flotation techniques (1911–1955) were used to enrich ore. Large quantities of tailings were produced. The impacts of past mining activities on the aquatic ecosystem of nearby Lake Orijärvi were studied using a combination of paleolimnological methods (analysis of sedimentary diatom frustules, chrysophycean cysts, metal concentrations and radiometric datings). The acid mine drainage (AMD) – derived metal impact to the lake was found to be the strongest thus far recorded in Finland. Concentrations of Cu, Pb and Zn in sediments are two to three orders of magnitude higher than background values. During the most severe loading phase, there were practically no algae in the lake. Achnanthes  minutissima was the hardiest species able to tolerate increased metal contents. The metal load has changed the properties of sediments in such a way that chrysophycean cysts were impossible to identify because of coating and corrosion. Lake water still has elevated heavy metal concentrations, indicating that the impact from the tailings area continues to affect the lake. It has low productivity, and the planktic diatom community is still not developed. The study demonstrates that unremediated mining areas form a major risk to the environment. The damage to aquatic ecosystem can remain severe for decades after the mining activities have ceased.     

Holocene diatom stratigraphy in the Archipelago Sea,northern Baltic Sea

Two sediment cores from the Archipelago Sea in the northern Baltic Sea were examined for their siliceous microfossils in order to study the Holocene palaeoenvironmental history of the area. The diatom record was divided into local diatom assemblage zones (LDAZ). An age model was constructed using independent palaeomagnetic and AMS-¹⁴C methods. The early history of the Archipelago Sea was freshwater. Initial brackish-water influence is observed at 7,950 ± 80 cal. BP (LDAZ4), but fully brackish conditions were established at 7,700 ± 80 cal. BP (LDAZ5). Diatom assemblages indicate increasing salinity, warming climate, and possible increasing trophic state during the transition from lacustrine to brackish-water conditions. The decreasing abundance of Pseudosolenia calcar-avis (Schultze) Sundström and the increasing abundance of the ice-cover indicator species Pauliella taeniata (Grunow) Round and Basson indicate reduced salinity and climatic cooling after ～5,000 cal. BP. LDAZ boundaries do not always correlate with changes in the sediment appearance, which underlines the importance of defining biostratigraphic boundaries independently to the sediment visual character, in contrast with the conventional practice for classifying the Baltic Sea sediments.     

From land to sea: provenance,composition, and preservation of organic matter in a marine sediment record from the North-East Greenland shelf spanning the Younger Dryas–Holocene

The organic matter content of marine sediments is often used to infer past changes in ocean conditions. However, the organic carbon pool preserved in coastal sediments is a complex mixture derived from different sources and may not reflect in situ processes. In this study, we combine taxonomic identification of reworked palynomorphs with pyrolysis organic geochemistry and reflected-light organic petrographic microscopy to investigate the provenance, composition and preservation of organic matter in a marine sediment core retrieved from the NE Greenland shelf. Our study reveals continuous yet variable input of land-derived organic carbon to the marine environment throughout the late Younger Dryas–Holocene, with the highest input of inert carbon in the late Younger Dryas. Although the sediments contain some recent marine palynomorphs, there is no other evidence of fresh marine organic carbon. In contrast, our results indicate that these shelf sediments represent a significant sink of recycled organic carbon. The results of pyrolysis geochemistry revealed that ~90% of the total organic carbon in the sediments is inert. The organic petrography analyses revealed that >70–84% of the organic carbon in the sediment core is terrigenous. Reworked dinoflagellate cysts showed a continuous provenance of Cretaceous land-derived material, most likely from the nearby Clavering Island. Our study points to the importance of constraining the organic matter origin, composition and preservation in marine sediments to achieve more accurate palaeoenvironmental reconstructions based on organic proxies.     

Multiproxy evidence for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem responses during the 8.2 ka cold event as recorded at Højby Sø, Denmark

A sediment succession from Højby Sø, a lake in eastern Denmark, covering the time period 9400–7400 cal yr BP was studied using high-resolution geochemistry, magnetic susceptibility, pollen, macrofossil, diatom, and algal pigment analysis to investigate responses of the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems to the 8.2 ka cold event. A reduced pollen production by thermophilous deciduous tree taxa in the period c. 8250–8000 cal yr BP reveal that the forest ecosystem was affected by low temperatures during the summer and winter/early-spring seasons. This finding is consistent with the timing of the 8.2 ka cold event as registered in the Greenland ice cores. At Højby Sø, the climate anomaly appears to have started 200–250 yr earlier than the 8.2 ka cold event as the lake proxy data provide strong evidence for a precipitation-induced distinct increase in catchment soil erosion beginning around 8500 cal yr BP. Alteration of the terrestrial environment then resulted in a major aquatic ecosystem change with nutrient enrichment of the lake and enhanced productivity, which lasted until c. 7900 cal yr BP.     

Mid- to late-Holocene climate variability and anthropogenic impacts: multi-proxy evidence from Lake Bliden,Denmark

We conducted multi-proxy geochemical analyses (including measurements of organic carbon, nitrogen and sulphur stable isotope composition, and carbonate carbon and oxygen isotope composition) on a 13.5 m sediment core from Lake Bliden, Denmark, which provide a record of shifting hydrological conditions for the past 6,700 years. The early part of the stratigraphic record (6,700–5,740 cal year BP) was wet, based on δ¹⁸O_carb and lithology, and corresponds to the Holocene Thermal Maximum. Shifts in primarily δ¹⁸O_carb indicate dry conditions prevailed from 5,740 to 2,800 cal year BP, although this was interrupted by very wet conditions from 5,300 to 5,150, 4,300 to 4,050 and 3,700 to 3,450 cal year BP. The timing of the latter two moist intervals is consistent with other Scandinavian paleoclimatic records. Dry conditions at Lake Bliden between 3,450 and 2,800 cal year BP is consistent with other paleolimnological records from southern Sweden but contrasts with records in central Sweden, possibly suggesting a more northerly trajectory of prevailing westerlies carrying moisture from the North Atlantic at this time. Overall, fluctuating moisture conditions at Lake Bliden appear to be strongly linked to changing sea surface temperatures in the Greenland, Iceland and Norwegian seas. After 2,800 cal year BP, sedimentology, magnetic susceptibility, δ¹³C_ORG, δ¹³C_carb and δ¹⁸O_carb indicate a major reduction on water level, which caused the depositional setting at the coring site to shift from the profundal to littoral zone. The Roman Warm Period (2,200–1,500 cal year BP) appears dry based on enriched δ¹⁸O_carb values. Possible effects of human disturbance in the watershed after 820 cal year BP complicate attempts to interpret the stratigraphic record although tentative interpretation of the δ¹⁸O_carb, magnetic susceptibility, δ¹³C_ORG, δ¹³C_carb and δ¹⁸O_carb records suggest that the Medieval Warm Period was dry and the Little Ice Age was wet.