Insights into oxygen transport and net community production in sea ice from oxygen, nitrogen and argon concentrations

We present the evolution of O2 standing stocks, saturation levels and concentrations in landfast sea ice, collected in Barrow (Alaska), from February to June 2009. The comparison of the standing stocks and saturation levels of O2 against those of N2 and Ar suggests that the dynamic of O2 in sea ice strongly depends on physical processes (gas incorporation and subsequent transport). We then discuss on the use of O2 / Ar and O2 / N2 to correct for the physical contribution and to determine the biological contribution (NCP) to O2 supersaturations. We conclude that O2 / Ar suits better than O2 / N2, because O2 / N2 is more sensitive due to the relative abundance of O2, N2 and Ar, and less biased when gas bubble formation and gas diffusion are maximized. We further estimate the NCP in the impermeable layers during ice growth and in the permeable layers during ice decay. Our results indicate that NCP contributed to a~release of carbon to the atmosphere in the upper ice layers, but to an uptake of carbon at sea ice bottom. Overall, seawater (rather than the atmosphere) may be the main supplier of carbon for sea ice microorganisms.