Project overview
Iron is essential to all life forms in the ocean and can limit primary production when at very low concentrations. Of the sources of iron to the ocean, ocean shelf sediments have been suggested to represent the largest. However, we have very limited understanding of exactly how this iron may be released from sediments, how it can be transported into the ocean interior and what processes can impact the flux of this essential element.
In goal of this project was to quantify fluxes of iron from northwest European shelf seas into the adjacent North Atlantic Ocean. We utilised trace metal clean sampling techniques, with associated physical diffusion and advection measurements, to determine the supply of dissolved, colloidal and particulate forms of iron from sediments and their subsequent fate in shelf sea waters and during export to the North Atlantic Ocean. We used iron isotopes, physical-chemical iron species characterisation and geochemical tracers to quantify the iron supply, attenuation and export processes. This was the first study to follow the “iron footprint” from the sediment to the open ocean in such a comprehensive manner.
This project was conducted in collaboration with the University of Plymouth, the University of Edinburgh and CEFAS.
In goal of this project was to quantify fluxes of iron from northwest European shelf seas into the adjacent North Atlantic Ocean. We utilised trace metal clean sampling techniques, with associated physical diffusion and advection measurements, to determine the supply of dissolved, colloidal and particulate forms of iron from sediments and their subsequent fate in shelf sea waters and during export to the North Atlantic Ocean. We used iron isotopes, physical-chemical iron species characterisation and geochemical tracers to quantify the iron supply, attenuation and export processes. This was the first study to follow the “iron footprint” from the sediment to the open ocean in such a comprehensive manner.
This project was conducted in collaboration with the University of Plymouth, the University of Edinburgh and CEFAS.
Staff
Lead researchers
Research outputs
Kechen Zhu, Antony J. Birchill, Angela Milne, Simon Ussher, Matthew P. Humphreys, Nealy Carr, Claire Mahaffey, Maeve C. Lohan, Eric P. Achterberg & Martha Gledhill,
2021, Marine Chemistry, 237
Type: article
Katrin Schmidt, Antony Birchill, Atkinson, Brewin, Clark, Anna Hickman, Johns, Maeve Lohan, Angela Milne, Silvia Pardo, Polimene, Timothy Smyth, Glen Tarran, Claire E. Widdicombe, E. Malcolm S. Woodward & S. Ussher,
2020, Global Change Biology, 26(10), 5574-5587
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15161
Type: article
A.J. Birchill, N.T. Hartner, K. Kunde, B. Siemering, C. Daniels, D. González-Santana, A. Milne, S.J. Ussher, P.J. Worsfold, K. Leopold, S.C. Painter & M.C. Lohan,
2019, Scientific Reports, 9(1), 1-12
Type: article
Paul J. Worsfold, Eric P. Achterberg, Antony J. Birchill, Robert Clough, Ivo Leito, Maeve C. Lohan, Angela Milne & Simon J. Ussher,
2019, Frontiers in Marine Science, 5
Type: article
D. Rusiecka, M. Gledhill, A. Milne, E. P. Achterberg, A. L. Annett, S. Atkinson, A. Birchill, J. Karstensen, M. Lohan, C. Mariez, R. Middag, J. M. Rolison, T. Tanhua, S. Ussher & D. Connelly,
2018, Geophysical Research Letters, 45(6), 2734-2743
DOI: 10.1002/2017GL076825
Type: article