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Radium isotopes are continuously produced at ocean boundaries and are soluble in seawater. Radium therefore serves as an analogue for similarly sourced shelf-derived materials, including biologically important elements such as carbon, nutrients, and trace metals. To test the hypothesis that climate change is leading to increased delivery of terrestrially-derived solutes to the Arctic Ocean, radium levels will be measured on bi-annual cruises along the Laptev and East Siberian Sea margins (to capture interannual changes) and on a first-of-its kind in situ radium isotope sampler (to capture seasonal changes). These sampling efforts will be complemented by an international network of collaborators that will contribute data to create an Arctic Radium Isotope Observing Network (ARION) that spans the Arctic Ocean and will serve the greater scientific community. This dataset contains the results of the water column measurements made on the first ARION cruise, which took place in Sept-Oct 2021 along the slopes of the East Siberian and Laptev Seas in collaboration with the Nansen and Amundsen Basin Observational Systems (NABOS) program. Parameters measured include radium-228, radium-226, oxygen-18, deuterium, and salinity. 

Radium isotopes (radium-228 and radium-226), water isotopes (oxygen-18 and deuterium), and salinity were measured on the slope of the East Siberian Sea in coordination with the 2018 Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System (NABOS) expedition. Radium is continuously produced at ocean boundaries and is soluble in seawater, thus it serves as an analogue for similarly sourced sediment-derived materials. Because the Eastern Arctic shelves are the origin of the Transpolar Drift, monitoring the radium levels in this region improves our understanding of potential climate-driven changes on the transport of shelf-derived materials offshore. 

Radium isotopes, which are sourced from sediments, are useful tools for studying potential climate‐driven changes in the transfer of shelf‐derived elements to the open Arctic Ocean. Here we present observations of radium‐228 and radium‐226 from the Siberian Arctic, focusing on the shelf‐basin boundary north of the Laptev and East Siberian Seas. Water isotopes and nutrients are used to deconvolve the contributions from different water masses in the study region, and modeled currents and water parcel back‐trajectories provide insights on water pathways and residence times. High radium levels and fractions of meteoric water, along with modeled water parcel back‐trajectories, indicate that shelf‐ and river‐influenced water left the East Siberian Shelf around 170°E in 2021; this is likely where the Transpolar Drift was entering the central Arctic. A transect extending from the East Siberian Slope into the basin is used to estimate a radium‐228 flux of 2.67 × 10⁷atoms m⁻² d⁻¹(possible range of 1.23 × 10⁷–1.04 × 10⁸atoms m⁻² d⁻¹) from slope sediments, which is comparable to slope fluxes in other regions of the world. A box model is used to determine that the flux of radium‐228 from the Laptev and East Siberian Shelves is 9.03 × 10⁷atoms m⁻² d⁻¹(possible range of 3.87 × 10⁷–1.56 × 10⁸atoms m⁻² d⁻¹), similar to previously estimated fluxes from the Chukchi Shelf. These three shelves contribute a disproportionately high amount of radium to the Arctic, highlighting their importance in regulating the chemistry of Arctic surface waters.

 

Abstract Groundwater-derived solute fluxes to the ocean have long been assumed static and subordinate to riverine fluxes, if not neglected entirely, in marine isotope budgets. Here we present concentration and isotope data for Li, Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba in coastal groundwaters to constrain the importance of groundwater discharge in mediating the magnitude and isotopic composition of terrestrially derived solute fluxes to the ocean. Data were extrapolated globally using three independent volumetric estimates of groundwater discharge to coastal waters, from which we estimate that groundwater-derived solute fluxes represent, at a minimum, 5% of riverine fluxes for Li, Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba. The isotopic compositions of the groundwater-derived Mg, Ca, and Sr fluxes are distinct from global riverine averages, while Li and Ba fluxes are isotopically indistinguishable from rivers. These differences reflect a strong dependence on coastal lithology that should be considered a priority for parameterization in Earth-system models.