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Abstract The Arctic hydrological cycle is predicted to intensify as the Arctic warms, due to increased poleward moisture transport during summer and increased evaporation from seas once ice‐covered during winter. Records of past Arctic precipitation seasonality are important because they provide a context for these ongoing changes. In some Arctic lakes, stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen (δ18O and δ2H, respectively) vary seasonally, due to seasonal changes in precipitation δ18O and δ2H. We reconstruct precipitation seasonality from Lake N3, a well‐dated lake sediment archive in Disko Bugt, western Greenland, by generating Holocene records of two proxies that are produced at different times of the year, and therefore record different lake water seasonal isotopic compositions. Aquatic plants synthesize waxes throughout the summer, and their δ2H reflects winter‐biased precipitation δ2H at Lake N3, whereas chironomids synthesize their head capsules between late summer and winter, and their δ18O reflects summer‐biased precipitation δ18O at Lake N3. During the middle Holocene at Lake N3, aquatic plant leaf wax was strongly2H‐depleted, while chironomid chitin was18O‐enriched. We guide interpretations of these records using sensitivity tests of a lake water and energy balance model, where we change precipitation amount and isotope seasonality inputs. The sensitivity tests suggest that the contrasting trends between proxies were likely caused by an increase in precipitation amount during all seasons and an increase in precipitation isotope seasonality, in addition to proxy‐specific mechanisms, highlighting the importance of understanding lake‐ and proxy‐specific systematics when interpreting records from sediment archives.
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Northwest Greenland Aquatic Moss and Water Isotopes Modern Calibration Data, 2022
This dataset contains the raw data associated with the manuscript entitled: Aquatic Moss δ18O as a Proxy for Seasonally Resolved Lake Water δ18O, Northwest Greenland (Puleo et al., 2024). Reconstructing past climate seasonality is fundamental to understanding the nature of past climate changes. This is especially true in the Arctic, where climate is intensely seasonal and proxies that can distinguish climate conditions of multiple seasons in a single year are relatively rare. We propose that submerged aquatic mosses, which are abundant subfossils in some Arctic lake sediments and have distinctive seasonal growth morphologies, can be used to estimate past lake water oxygen isotope composition (δ18Olw) across multiple seasons. Aquatic mosses are abundant, well preserved, and grow continuously in Arctic lakes whenever light is available, with some species displaying unique seasonal morphologies influenced by water temperature. Although Greenland paleorecords support that aquatic moss oxygen isotope values (δ18Oom) reflect the δ18O values of lake water, no modern calibration between δ18Oom and δ18Olw exists in Greenland, as aquatic moss samples are composed largely, but not entirely, of cellulose. We present a modern δ18Oom vs. δ18Olw calibration using multiple moss species or morphotypes from eight lakes and ponds near Pituffik (Thule), northwest Greenland. We find strong linear relationships between the δ18Oom and δ18Olw values of multiple species or morphotypes across the range of relatively low δ18Olw values at Pituffik, and our results indicate isotopic fractionations are similar to those found previously at lower latitudes. To assess the potential of mosses as archives of seasonal δ18Olw values, we analyzed δ18Oom in season-specific segments of moss strands, with seasons identified based upon growth morphology. Moss inferred lake water δ18O values (δ18Olwom) are higher in autumn than spring or summer, likely due to increasing contributions of isotopically heavier precipitation and the cumulative effects of lake water evaporation throughout the ice-free season. For moss subsampled throughout summer, δ18Olwom values generally increased through the season in parallel with observed δ18Olw values. Potential temperature dependent fractionation effects during biosynthesis, however, remain unconstrained and should be further addressed with future research. Overall, these findings suggest that aquatic mosses from lake sediments could be used to directly resolve climate seasonality of the past. Puleo, P.J.K., Akers, P.D., Kopec, B.G., Welker, J.M., Bailey, H., Osburn, M.R., Riis, T., Axford, Y., 2024. Aquatic moss δ18O as a proxy for seasonally resolved lake water δ18O, northwest Greenland. Quaternary Science Reviews 334, 1-11.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2002515
- PAR ID:
- 10540783
- Publisher / Repository:
- NSF Arctic Data Center
- Date Published:
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Water Isotopes Aquatic Moss Lakes and Ponds Sediment Present Paleoclimatology Greenland Seasonality
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Other: text/xml
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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