The pan-arctic coastal region hosts large reservoirs of potentially vulnerable pools of organic matter in soil/peat permafrost, coastal ice-complex and subsea permafrost. The International Polar Year (IPY) offered an opportunity for enhanced studies of processes affecting the biogeochemical fate of carbon and other elements in these vast and frequently understudied systems.
This session offers a forum for biogeochemical studies in the Arctic land-shelf region that characterize organic matter, nutrients, major and trace elements as well as greenhouse gases from riverine discharge, coastal erosion and ocean sediments. Studies that quantitatively address the sources, distribution, transport and degradation of substances in the coastal water column and in surface sediments are particularly encouraged.