Antarctic glaciers export carbon-stabilised iron(II)-rich particles to the surface Southern Ocean

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 16; no. 1; pp. 5015 - 10
• Main Authors: Jones, Rhiannon L., Hawkings, Jon R., Meredith, Michael P., Lohan, Maeve C., Moore, Oliver W., Sherrell, Robert M., Fitzsimmons, Jessica N., Kazemian, Majid, Araki, Tohru, Kaulich, Burkhard, Annett, Amber L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 30.05.2025; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/58; 147/135; 147/137; 704/47/4112; 704/47/4113; 704/829/827; Algae; Bioavailability; Carbon; Carbon cycle; Chemical analysis; Continental shelves; Fluxes; Glacier melting; Glaciers; Humanities and Social Sciences; Iron; Marine ecosystems; Meltwater; Microscopy; multidisciplinary; Organic carbon; Oxidation; Phytoplankton; Plankton; Productivity; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Seawater; Water analysis; X ray microscopy; Southern Ocean
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59981-y

Iron is an essential micronutrient for phytoplankton and plays an integral role in the marine carbon cycle. The supply and bioavailability of iron are therefore important modulators of climate over glacial-interglacial cycles. Inputs of iron from the Antarctic continental shelf alleviate iron limitation in the Southern Ocean, driving hotspots of productivity. Glacial meltwater fluxes can deliver high volumes of particulate iron. Here, we show that glacier meltwater provides particles rich in iron(II) to the Antarctic shelf surface ocean. Particulate iron(II) is understood to be more bioavailable to phytoplankton, but less stable in oxic seawater, than iron(III). Using x-ray microscopy, we demonstrate co-occurrence of iron and organic carbon-rich phases, suggesting that organic carbon retards the oxidation of potentially-bioavailable iron(II) in oxic seawater. Accelerating meltwater fluxes may provide an increasingly important source of bioavailable iron(II)-rich particles to the Antarctic surface ocean, with implications for the Southern Ocean carbon pump and ecosystem productivity. Authors show that Antarctic glaciers deliver high particle loads to the ocean, rich in iron that is potential food for marine algae. Microscopy techniques reveal this iron interacts with carbon. Ocean tracers show this glacial iron reaches far offshore.