Storage and export of microbial biomass across the western Greenland Ice Sheet

Tristram Irvine-Fynn; Arwyn Edwards; Ian Thomas Stevens; Andy Mitchell; Pete Bunting; Jason Box; Karen Cameron; Joseph Cook; Kathrin Naegeli; Sara M. E. Rassner; Jonathan Ryan; Marek Stibal; Christopher Williamson; Alun Hubbard

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-24040-9

Storage and export of microbial biomass across the western Greenland Ice Sheet

Tristram Irvine-Fynn, Arwyn Edwards, Ian Thomas Stevens, Andy Mitchell, Pete Bunting, Jason Box, Karen Cameron, Joseph Cook, Kathrin Naegeli, Sara M. E. Rassner, Jonathan Ryan, Marek Stibal, Christopher Williamson, Alun Hubbard

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Abstract

The Greenland Ice Sheet harbours a wealth of microbial life, yet the total biomass stored or exported from its surface to downstream environments is unconstrained. Here, we quantify microbial abundance and cellular biomass flux within the near-surface weathering crust photic zone of the western sector of the ice sheet. Using groundwater techniques, we demonstrate that interstitial water flow is slow (~10⁻² m d⁻¹), while flow cytometry enumeration reveals this pathway delivers 5 × 10⁸ cells m⁻² d⁻¹ to supraglacial streams, equivalent to a carbon flux up to 250 g km⁻² d⁻¹. We infer that cellular carbon accumulation in the weathering crust exceeds fluvial export, promoting biomass sequestration, enhanced carbon cycling, and biological albedo reduction. We estimate that up to 37 kg km⁻² of cellular carbon is flushed from the weathering crust environment of the western Greenland Ice Sheet each summer, providing an appreciable flux to support heterotrophs and methanogenesis at the bed.

Original language	English
Article number	3960
Number of pages	11
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	12
Issue number	1
Early online date	25 Jun 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24040-9
Publication status	Published - 01 Dec 2021

Keywords

Biomass
Carbon Cycle
Carbon/analysis
Colony Count, Microbial
Greenland
Hydrology
Ice Cover/chemistry
Weather

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ArticleFinal published version, 1.66 MBLicence: CC BY
Supplementary InformationFinal published version, 440 KBLicence: CC BY

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@article{e8e0e93d76164bccb1a714a2a881c588,

title = "Storage and export of microbial biomass across the western Greenland Ice Sheet",

abstract = "The Greenland Ice Sheet harbours a wealth of microbial life, yet the total biomass stored or exported from its surface to downstream environments is unconstrained. Here, we quantify microbial abundance and cellular biomass flux within the near-surface weathering crust photic zone of the western sector of the ice sheet. Using groundwater techniques, we demonstrate that interstitial water flow is slow (~10−2 m d−1), while flow cytometry enumeration reveals this pathway delivers 5 × 108 cells m−2 d−1 to supraglacial streams, equivalent to a carbon flux up to 250 g km−2 d−1. We infer that cellular carbon accumulation in the weathering crust exceeds fluvial export, promoting biomass sequestration, enhanced carbon cycling, and biological albedo reduction. We estimate that up to 37 kg km−2 of cellular carbon is flushed from the weathering crust environment of the western Greenland Ice Sheet each summer, providing an appreciable flux to support heterotrophs and methanogenesis at the bed.",

keywords = "Biomass, Carbon Cycle, Carbon/analysis, Colony Count, Microbial, Greenland, Hydrology, Ice Cover/chemistry, Weather",

author = "Tristram Irvine-Fynn and Arwyn Edwards and Stevens, {Ian Thomas} and Andy Mitchell and Pete Bunting and Jason Box and Karen Cameron and Joseph Cook and Kathrin Naegeli and Rassner, {Sara M. E.} and Jonathan Ryan and Marek Stibal and Christopher Williamson and Alun Hubbard",

note = "This research was supported by a Royal Society Grant (RG130314: PRESTIGE, to A.E. and T.D.L.I.-F.). We acknowledge NERC Large Grant (NE/M020991/1 and NE/M021025: Black & Bloom, supporting T.D.L.I.-F., J.M.C. and C.J.W., with recognition of project investigators including M Tranter, AJ Hodson, E Hanna, and M Yallop). T.D.L.I.-F. acknowledges Leverhulme Trust Fellowship RF-2018-584/4. A.E. acknowledges Leverhulme Trust Fellowship RF-2017-652. A.E., T.D.L.I.-F., S.M.E.R. and J.M.C. all recognise NERC Standard Grant (NE/S001034/1: MicroMelt). A.C.M. and A.E. acknowledge support from a National Research Network for Low Carbon Energy and Environment (NRN-LCEE) grant from the Welsh Government and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW): Geo-Carb-Cymru. J.M.C. recognises the Rolex Awards for Enterprise and National Geographic. K.A.C. acknowledges funding from the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk{\l}odowska-Curie Grant agreement No. 663830. Financial support was also provided to K.A.C. by the Welsh Government and Higher Education Funding Council for Wales through the S{\^e}r Cymru National Research Network for Low Carbon, Energy and Environment. K.N. was involved through a SNSF Mobility Fellowship Grant (P2FRP2/174888); A.H. acknowledges a research professorship from the Research Council of Norway through its Centres of Excellence scheme (Grant 223259) and an Academy of Finland ArcI visiting fellowship to the University of Oulu. Logistical field support from the Dark Snow Project (www.darksnow.org) led by J.E.B., and a Villum Young Investigator Programme (Grant VKR-023121) and a Czech Science Foundation (Grant: 19-21341 S) held by M.S. are gratefully recognised. Meteorological data from the S6 AWS maintained by Utrecht University, Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (UU/IMAU) were kindly made available by M.R. van den Broeke and C.J.P.P. Smeets. We thank J.W. Bridge for constructive input.",

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AU - Irvine-Fynn, Tristram

AU - Edwards, Arwyn

AU - Stevens, Ian Thomas

AU - Mitchell, Andy

AU - Bunting, Pete

AU - Box, Jason

AU - Cameron, Karen

AU - Cook, Joseph

AU - Naegeli, Kathrin

AU - Rassner, Sara M. E.

AU - Ryan, Jonathan

AU - Stibal, Marek

AU - Williamson, Christopher

AU - Hubbard, Alun

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PY - 2021/12/1

Y1 - 2021/12/1

N2 - The Greenland Ice Sheet harbours a wealth of microbial life, yet the total biomass stored or exported from its surface to downstream environments is unconstrained. Here, we quantify microbial abundance and cellular biomass flux within the near-surface weathering crust photic zone of the western sector of the ice sheet. Using groundwater techniques, we demonstrate that interstitial water flow is slow (~10−2 m d−1), while flow cytometry enumeration reveals this pathway delivers 5 × 108 cells m−2 d−1 to supraglacial streams, equivalent to a carbon flux up to 250 g km−2 d−1. We infer that cellular carbon accumulation in the weathering crust exceeds fluvial export, promoting biomass sequestration, enhanced carbon cycling, and biological albedo reduction. We estimate that up to 37 kg km−2 of cellular carbon is flushed from the weathering crust environment of the western Greenland Ice Sheet each summer, providing an appreciable flux to support heterotrophs and methanogenesis at the bed.

AB - The Greenland Ice Sheet harbours a wealth of microbial life, yet the total biomass stored or exported from its surface to downstream environments is unconstrained. Here, we quantify microbial abundance and cellular biomass flux within the near-surface weathering crust photic zone of the western sector of the ice sheet. Using groundwater techniques, we demonstrate that interstitial water flow is slow (~10−2 m d−1), while flow cytometry enumeration reveals this pathway delivers 5 × 108 cells m−2 d−1 to supraglacial streams, equivalent to a carbon flux up to 250 g km−2 d−1. We infer that cellular carbon accumulation in the weathering crust exceeds fluvial export, promoting biomass sequestration, enhanced carbon cycling, and biological albedo reduction. We estimate that up to 37 kg km−2 of cellular carbon is flushed from the weathering crust environment of the western Greenland Ice Sheet each summer, providing an appreciable flux to support heterotrophs and methanogenesis at the bed.

KW - Biomass

KW - Carbon Cycle

KW - Carbon/analysis

KW - Colony Count, Microbial

KW - Greenland

KW - Hydrology

KW - Ice Cover/chemistry

KW - Weather

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ER -

Storage and export of microbial biomass across the western Greenland Ice Sheet

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Storage and export of microbial biomass across the western Greenland Ice Sheet

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