A new HPLC-MS method for fatty acid detection in sea ice

The presence of marine-sourced fatty acids^1,2,3, in Antarctic ice cores has been linked to changes in sea ice conditions^2,3. It has been proposed that the phytoplankton within and around the sea ice produce these fatty acids³ which are then released into the atmosphere upon sea-ice retreat and deposited onto the continental ice sheet^2,3. While fatty acids show great potential as a proxy to reconstruct past sea ice, their transport, deposition and preservation within the ice sheet is poorly understood.  Few studies have investigated sea ice as a source of fatty acids and even fewer have investigated Antarctic sea ice^4,5,6. Here we present a new study exploring the methods of detecting fatty acids in sea ice, including new results from pancake ice collected from the Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone in 2022.

Analyses of fatty acids are typically carried out using gas chromatography (GC) coupled with mass spectrometric (MS) techniques^6,7,8,9. With the rise of liquid chromatography methods in the past few decades, their use have become more common. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has an advantage over GC methods with its lower temperatures during analysis, thus reducing the risk of altering or destroying the fatty acids¹⁰. A resultant HPLC-MS method, using electrospray ionisation, is presented for the detection and analysis of fatty acids in sea ice.

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