Nuclear waste radionuclides unveil three decades of anthropogenic carbon in the Canada Basin of the Arctic Ocean.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41951592.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-026-71115-6.
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Abstract
Ocean-atmosphere CO<sub>2</sub> exchange is key in modulating global climate, but the Arctic Ocean's anthropogenic carbon (C<sub>ant</sub>) uptake is poorly constrained. Most studies in the Canada Basin using the Transit Time Distribution (TTD) relied on two years of paired gas tracers, CFC-12 and SF<sub>6</sub>. Here we use nuclear reprocessing products <sup>129</sup>I, <sup>236</sup>U, and <sup>137</sup>Cs to estimate C<sub>ant</sub> in the Atlantic Water layer by the TTD. We present the evolution of C<sub>ant</sub> in the Canada Basin from 1993 to 2023, and a high-resolution distribution of C<sub>ant</sub> across the basin in 2022. We observe a basin-wide inventory increase in the Atlantic Layer (400-1000 m) of 5.5 ± 0.9 Tg C yr<sup>-1</sup>. C<sub>ant</sub> content in water entering the Canada Basin tracks increasing atmospheric input, time-lagged by 15-20 years; we anticipate C<sub>ant</sub> content of up to 65 μmol kg<sup>-1</sup> in core Atlantic Water entering the basin by 2050.