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1. Development of the boron isotope pH proxy in Arctica islandica shells

   Wanamaker, A. ; Thatcher, D. ; Stewart, J. ; Williams, B. ; Franklin, H. ; Guay, K. ; Jellison, B. ; Whitney, N. ; McMahon, T. ; Jarosinski, L. ; et al ( May 2023 , International Sclerochronology Conference)

   Coastal systems can exhibit large variability in pH compared to open marine conditions, thus the impacts of ocean acidification (OA) on their resident calcifying organisms are potentially magnified. Further, our understanding of the natural baseline and variability of pH is spatially and temporally limited in coastal settings. In the few coastal locations that have been monitoring seawater pH, records are generally limited to <10 years and are thus unable to provide the full range of centennial to decadal natural variability. This is the case for the Gulf of Maine (northwestern Atlantic), a highly productive region of strategic importance to U.S. fisheries, that is facing multiple environmental stressors including rapid warming and threats from OA. Paleoceanographic proxy records are therefore much needed in this region to reconstruct past pH conditions beyond instrumental records. A clear candidate for this is the boron isotope (d11B) pH proxy provided the d11B sensitivity to pH in long-lived shallow water marine carbonates can be established. To this end, we grew juvenile and adult Arctica islandica (ocean quahog) in flowing seawater tanks for 20.5 weeks in controlled pH (7.4, 7.6, 7.8 or 8.0 (ambient) ± 0.02) and temperature (6, 9 or 12 ± 0.56 °C) conditions at Bowdoin College’s Schiller Coastal Studies Center, Harpswell, Maine (USA). The clams were stained twice with calcein and supplemented with food (Shellfish Diet) throughout the experiment to ensure suitable growth. New shell growth (average 67% increase in maximum shell height and 522% increase in buoyant weight across all treatments), constrained by calcein markings, were sampled for boron isotope analysis (d11B) to determine if shell d11B varied as a function of pH similar to many other calcifying organisms. The results of the culture experiment will yield whether or not Arctica islandica preserves seawater pH information in their shells. If so, the transfer function relating shell d11B to pH will be used to hindcast pH in the central coastal region of the Gulf of Maine during recent centuries. Alternatively, if the shell d11B signal is independent of ambient seawater pH, this may reveal the capacity of Arctica islandica to regulate internal calcifying fluid chemistry and their resilience to OA. 

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2. Oceanographic Variability in the Rapidly Warming Coastal Mid-Atlantic (USA) over the last 200 years: Insights from Shell-Based Geochemistry and Growth Histories

   Sun, H. ; Wanamaker, A. ; Thatcher, D. ; Whitney, N. ; Jarosinski, L. ; Stewart, J. ; Williams, B. ; LaVigne, M. ( December 2022 , American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting)

   Warming in recent decades in the North Atlantic Ocean has been heterogeneous, with locations along the northwestern Atlantic experiencing some of the largest and fastest warming in the last 100 years. This region is important for fisheries but has limited spatial and temporal hydrographic instrumental series extending beyond the past decades, especially along the coastal United States portion of the northwestern Atlantic, thus impacting our understanding of past climatic variability. To provide a longer temporal context for these changes, we constructed a continuous master shell growth chronology spanning the last two centuries and provided geochemical records from the Mid-Atlantic region using the long-lived marine bivalve Arctica islandica. Shells were collected on the outer shelf region off Ocean City, Maryland, in ~ 60 m water depth. This region is sensitive to large-scale North Atlantic Ocean dynamics, including the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and Gulf Stream eddies. Based on growth histories and shell oxygen isotopes, we provide evidence of hydrographic variability beyond the relatively short instrumental period and evaluate the likely causes for these changes. These data allow us to better characterize recent and past oceanographic changes in the Mid-Atlantic region, synthesize the new results with previously developed paleo-records in the northwestern Atlantic, and provide guidance for the management of fisheries in this region. 

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3. A 250‐Year, Decadally Resolved, Radiocarbon Time History in the Gulf of Maine Reveals a Hydrographic Regime Shift at the End of the Little Ice Age

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016579  

   Lower‐Spies, Erin E. ; Whitney, Nina M. ; Wanamaker, Alan D. ; Griffin, Shelly M. ; Introne, Douglas S. ; Kreutz, Karl J. ( September 2020 , Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans)

   In order to document relative changes in water mass contributions in the Gulf of Maine (GoM), we used the shell material of the long‐lived ocean quahog (Arctica islandica). A multicentury, crossdated master shell growth chronology facilitated the reconstruction of a radiocarbon Δ¹⁴C history prior to the radiocarbon bomb‐pulse of the 1950s. This reconstruction reveals a highly variable Δ¹⁴C series (mean = −56.6 ± 8.0‰ (1σ);N = 34) from CE 1685 to 1935. Δ¹⁴C values indicate a rapid shift ca. 1860 CE in source waters to the GoM. From CE 1685 to 1860, GoM waters were dominated by an admixture of Warm Slope Water primarily composed of tropical Atlantic surface waters/Gulf Stream Waters, and Scotian Shelf Water. This water regime was followed by a rapid Δ¹⁴C transition to a Labrador Slope Water endmember after CE 1860, with an apparent decrease in Scotian Shelf Water. Together, this shift is likely related to broader changes in the Arctic and the Labrador Sea, and a short‐term strengthening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Labrador Slope Water dominating GoM hydrography in the 1900s is verified by the similarities between this record and other coral‐ and shell‐derived Δ¹⁴C records influenced by waters with Labrador Sea origin. This suggests that GoM radiocarbon variability broadly reflects large‐scale ocean circulation processes in the Northwestern Atlantic. The lack of Δ¹⁴C values much below the Labrador Slope Water endmember suggests that the interior GoM gets very little to no Antarctic Intermediate Water as other studies had previously suggested.

    

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4. Evidence of coherent warming in the northwest Atlantic Ocean from Arctica islandica oxygen isotope records

   Thatcher, D. ; Whitney, N. ; Walton, A. ; Sun, H. ; Jarosinski, L. ; Wanamaker, A. ; LaVigne, M. ; Williams, B. ; Stewart, J. ( May 2023 , International Sclerochronology Conference)

   Parts of the northwest Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Maine, along the northeastern coast of the United States, are warming at a rate as much as four times faster than the global ocean, according to instrumental and satellite records. In addition to the longer-term temperature increases, the frequency and severity of marine heat waves have been increasing. Combined, the ecological impacts are numerous and concerning, yet our understanding of past climate in this region is incomplete due to sparse and short-duration instrumental records. Here we present annually resolved oxygen isotope records from the marine bivalve, Arctica islandica, from five locations ranging from Jonesport and Seguin Island in the Gulf of Maine to Long Island, New York, Cape May, New Jersey, and Ocean City, Maryland in the Mid-Atlantic Bight, a span of over 870 km along the Atlantic coast. Several of the isotope records span the last 100 years or more and all records show coherent, substantial warming since at least 1980 CE. The level of warming indicated in the shell oxygen isotopes is comparable to the 0.5 °C per decade (1980-2020 CE) warming also shown in the instrumental record of sea surface temperature from Boothbay Harbor along the central coast in the Gulf of Maine. These five spatially distant isotope records span different oceanographic conditions and dynamics, including water mass sources, yet they all indicate a substantial warming in recent decades, likely related to increased anthropogenic warming. Beyond reconstructing seawater temperature prior to instrumental records, a major goal of this work is to disentangle the global warming signal from these records to better understand the underlying ocean dynamics also influencing these records. 

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5. Developing multi-centennial shell-based records from the Mid-Atlantic region

   Sun, H. ; Thatcher, D.L ; Whitney, N.M. ; Jarosinski, L. ; LaVigne, M. ; Williams, B. ; Stewart, J. ; Wanamaker, A.D. ( April 2022 , PAGES Open Science Meeting)

   Warming in the North Atlantic Ocean has been heterogeneous in recent decades, with locations along the eastern United States seaboard (northwestern Atlantic) seeing some of the largest and fastest warming in the last 100 years. In order to provide a longer temporal context for these changes, we are in the process of developing several master shell growth chronologies and associated geochemical records from theMid-Atlantic coast using the shells of the long-lived marine bivalve Arctica islandica. Based on the shell collection locations (shelf regions offOcean City, Maryland in ~ 61 m water depth and Long Island, New York in ~47 m water depth) and shell geochemistry measurements, we will be able to better ascertain hydrographic spatial and temporal variability of subtropical Atlantic water moving northward through time. These findings will be integrated with similar sclerochronology datasets previously published from the Gulf of Maine region and several others from theMid-Atlantic region that are currently being constructed. Collectively, this network of sclerochronology records will allow us to better characterize changes in the northwestern Atlantic and provide hydrographic insights beyond the relatively short instrumental record and evaluate potential dynamical forcings through time. 

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