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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Biogeochemistry
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1426793

Tracing freshwater sources and particle discharge in Kongsfjorden: insights from a water isotope approach

Provisionally accepted
Ling Fang Ling Fang 1Eun Jin Yang Eun Jin Yang 2Junho Yoo Junho Yoo 3Minkyoung Kim Minkyoung Kim 3*
  • 1 Northwest University, Xi'an, China
  • 2 Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, Republic of Korea
  • 3 Kyungpook National University, Daegu, North Gyeongsang, Republic of Korea

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Arctic fjords are inherently vulnerable to global warming, particularly because of the substantial freshwater influx resulting from the melting of glaciers. In this study, precipitation, river water, surface ice, and seawater samples from Kongsfjorden were collected to identify the main sources of freshwater. The dual water isotope (δ 18 O and δD) results and temperature-salinity profiles revealed that between 0% and 7% freshwater contributed to the fjord's water. Furthermore, different freshwater sources for surface and deep water were identified by the dual water isotope analysis. Turbidity profiles confirmed the alter in particle discharge associated with surface runoff and subglacial discharge. Our study highlighted the sensitivity of water isotope analysis in elucidating the hydrological processes within the fjord system and demonstrated its potential for investigating the impact of meltwater on biological processes in the Arctic.

    Keywords: Stable water isotopes1, Meltwater2, Turbidity3, Terrestrial particle discharge4, Arctic fjord5, Kongsfjorden6

    Received: 02 May 2024; Accepted: 16 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Fang, Yang, Yoo and Kim. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Minkyoung Kim, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 702-701, North Gyeongsang, Republic of Korea

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