TY - JOUR
T1 - Ecosystem metabolism and nitrogen budget of a glacial Fjord in the Arctic
AU - Duarte, Pedro
AU - Castro de La Guardia, Laura
AU - Assmy, Philipp
AU - Wold, Anette
AU - Fransson, Agneta
AU - Chierici, Melissa
AU - Bailey, Allison
AU - Hodson, Andrew
AU - Alexander, Andreas
AU - Magalhães, Catarina
AU - Gabrielsen, Geir Wing
AU - Albretsen, Jon
AU - Frank, Lukas
AU - Tripathy, Sarat Chandra
AU - Smerdou, Carlos
AU - Gordillo, Francisco J. L.
AU - Cobos, Pablo
AU - Velázquez, David
AU - Convey, Peter
AU - De Rovere, Francesco
AU - Hop, Haakon
AU - Rodriguez-Castro, Jorge
N1 - © The Author(s) 2025
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
PY - 2025/7/2
Y1 - 2025/7/2
N2 - Fjords in the Arctic are changing rapidly due to multiple factors including increasing air temperatures, the influx of Atlantic Water (Atlantification), sea-ice loss, retreat of tidewater glaciers, increased freshwater discharges, pollution and tourism. Understanding how these changes affect ecosystem processes and functions and, thus, services to society is critical. Net Ecosystem Metabolism (NEM) offers a holistic measure of ecosystem functioning and services, reflecting the balance between autotrophic and heterotrophic processes and the sink/source role of an ecosystem for nutrients and carbon. Using a 10-year dataset we quantify the main nutrient sources and sinks in Kongsfjorden (Svalbard) and estimate NEM using a method based on mixing diagrams combined with an ocean circulation model. We show that Kongsfjorden is a nutrient and carbon sink primarily supported by nutrient inputs from the adjacent shelf sea with terrestrial run-off playing a secondary role. Given the ongoing changes in the Arctic, driven by global warming and its associated effects, we recommend monitoring NEM as an integrated measure of the state of coastal ecosystems, considering the disproportionately large role of coastal regions in the global carbon budget.
AB - Fjords in the Arctic are changing rapidly due to multiple factors including increasing air temperatures, the influx of Atlantic Water (Atlantification), sea-ice loss, retreat of tidewater glaciers, increased freshwater discharges, pollution and tourism. Understanding how these changes affect ecosystem processes and functions and, thus, services to society is critical. Net Ecosystem Metabolism (NEM) offers a holistic measure of ecosystem functioning and services, reflecting the balance between autotrophic and heterotrophic processes and the sink/source role of an ecosystem for nutrients and carbon. Using a 10-year dataset we quantify the main nutrient sources and sinks in Kongsfjorden (Svalbard) and estimate NEM using a method based on mixing diagrams combined with an ocean circulation model. We show that Kongsfjorden is a nutrient and carbon sink primarily supported by nutrient inputs from the adjacent shelf sea with terrestrial run-off playing a secondary role. Given the ongoing changes in the Arctic, driven by global warming and its associated effects, we recommend monitoring NEM as an integrated measure of the state of coastal ecosystems, considering the disproportionately large role of coastal regions in the global carbon budget.
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-025-06953-3
DO - 10.1038/s41598-025-06953-3
M3 - Article
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 15
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
IS - 1
M1 - 22946 (2025)
ER -
Climate action
Life below water