Overview
- Peer-reviewed findings in Communications Earth & Environment confirm nitrogen fixation across the central Arctic Ocean, including under sea ice.
- Measured rates peaked along the melting ice edge, and researchers expect nitrogen inputs to grow as retreating ice expands this zone.
- Unlike most oceans where cyanobacteria dominate, non-cyanobacterial microbes perform the fixation in the central Arctic.
- Added fixed nitrogen could stimulate algal production and influence regional CO2 uptake, though the net climate effect remains uncertain.
- Results draw on measurements from 13 sites during IB Oden and RV Polarstern expeditions, led by a University of Copenhagen team including Lisa W. von Friesen and Lasse Riemann.