Princeton's Ona Underwood analyzes Arctic foraminifera (IMAGE)
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As the Arctic Ocean warms and sea ice shrinks, will the newly exposed sea surface see a plankton population boom and a burgeoning ecosystem in the open Arctic Ocean? Not likely, say a team of Princeton scientists who have examined the history and supply rate of nitrogen, a key nutrient. Stratification of the open Arctic waters, especially in the areas fed by the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait, will prevent surface plankton from receiving enough nitrogen to grow abundantly. Ona Underwood of Princeton University's Class of 2021 was a key member of the research team, analyzing western Arctic Ocean sediment cores for her junior project. Here, she performs nitrogen analyses on Arctic Ocean forams in the Sigman laboratory. She and the other members of the research team measured the nitrogen isotope ratios of the trace organic matter trapped in the walls of these fossils. Their measurements reveal how the proportions of Atlantic- and Pacific-derived nitrogen changed over time, while also tracking changes in the degree of nitrogen limitation of plankton at the surface.
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Photo by Jesse Farmer, Princeton University
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