Articles | Volume 22, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-1391-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-1391-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
29 Apr 2026
Research article |
| 29 Apr 2026
| 29 Apr 2026
Transient tracer observations in the Gulf of St. Lawrence reveal shift from younger to older inflow waters
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, 24148, Germany
[C]Worthy, LLC, Boulder, CO, 80302, USA
Toste Tanhua
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, 24148, Germany
William A. Nesbitt
Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, B3H 4R2, Canada
Samuel W. Stevens
Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, Canada
Hakai Institute, Heriot Bay, British Columbia, V9W 0B7, Canada
Douglas W. R. Wallace
Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, B3H 4R2, Canada
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William A. Nesbitt, Samuel W. Stevens, Alfonso O. Mucci, Lennart Gerke, Toste Tanhua, Gwénaëlle Chaillou, and Douglas W. R. Wallace
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Siv K. Lauvset, Nico Lange, Toste Tanhua, Henry C. Bittig, Are Olsen, Alex Kozyr, Marta Álvarez, Kumiko Azetsu-Scott, Peter J. Brown, Brendan R. Carter, Leticia Cotrim da Cunha, Mario Hoppema, Matthew P. Humphreys, Masao Ishii, Emil Jeansson, Akihiko Murata, Jens Daniel Müller, Fiz F. Pérez, Carsten Schirnick, Reiner Steinfeldt, Toru Suzuki, Adam Ulfsbo, Anton Velo, Ryan J. Woosley, and Robert M. Key
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Nico Lange, Björn Fiedler, Marta Álvarez, Alice Benoit-Cattin, Heather Benway, Pier Luigi Buttigieg, Laurent Coppola, Kim Currie, Susana Flecha, Dana S. Gerlach, Makio Honda, I. Emma Huertas, Siv K. Lauvset, Frank Muller-Karger, Arne Körtzinger, Kevin M. O'Brien, Sólveig R. Ólafsdóttir, Fernando C. Pacheco, Digna Rueda-Roa, Ingunn Skjelvan, Masahide Wakita, Angelicque White, and Toste Tanhua
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1901–1931, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1901-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1901-2024, 2024
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Alizée Dale, Marion Gehlen, Douglas W. R. Wallace, Germain Bénard, Christian Éthé, and Elena Alekseenko
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2538, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2538, 2023
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Diatom, which is at the base of a productive food chain that supports valuable fisheries, dominates the total primary production of the Labrador Sea (LS). The synthesis of biogenic silica frustules makes them peculiar among phytoplankton but also dependent on dissolved silicate (DSi). Regular oceanographic surveys show declining DSi concentrations since the mid-1990s. With a model-based approach, we show that weakening deep winter convection was the proximate cause of DSi decline in the LS.
Mathilde Jutras, Alfonso Mucci, Gwenaëlle Chaillou, William A. Nesbitt, and Douglas W. R. Wallace
Biogeosciences, 20, 839–849, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-839-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-839-2023, 2023
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The deep waters of the lower St Lawrence Estuary and gulf have, in the last decades, experienced a strong decline in their oxygen concentration. Below 65 µmol L-1, the waters are said to be hypoxic, with dire consequences for marine life. We show that the extent of the hypoxic zone shows a seven-fold increase in the last 20 years, reaching 9400 km2 in 2021. After a stable period at ~ 65 µmol L⁻¹ from 1984 to 2019, the oxygen level also suddenly decreased to ~ 35 µmol L-1 in 2020.
Siv K. Lauvset, Nico Lange, Toste Tanhua, Henry C. Bittig, Are Olsen, Alex Kozyr, Simone Alin, Marta Álvarez, Kumiko Azetsu-Scott, Leticia Barbero, Susan Becker, Peter J. Brown, Brendan R. Carter, Leticia Cotrim da Cunha, Richard A. Feely, Mario Hoppema, Matthew P. Humphreys, Masao Ishii, Emil Jeansson, Li-Qing Jiang, Steve D. Jones, Claire Lo Monaco, Akihiko Murata, Jens Daniel Müller, Fiz F. Pérez, Benjamin Pfeil, Carsten Schirnick, Reiner Steinfeldt, Toru Suzuki, Bronte Tilbrook, Adam Ulfsbo, Anton Velo, Ryan J. Woosley, and Robert M. Key
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GLODAP is a data product for ocean inorganic carbon and related biogeochemical variables measured by the chemical analysis of water bottle samples from scientific cruises. GLODAPv2.2022 is the fourth update of GLODAPv2 from 2016. The data that are included have been subjected to extensive quality controlling, including systematic evaluation of measurement biases. This version contains data from 1085 hydrographic cruises covering the world's oceans from 1972 to 2021.
Pierre Friedlingstein, Michael O'Sullivan, Matthew W. Jones, Robbie M. Andrew, Luke Gregor, Judith Hauck, Corinne Le Quéré, Ingrid T. Luijkx, Are Olsen, Glen P. Peters, Wouter Peters, Julia Pongratz, Clemens Schwingshackl, Stephen Sitch, Josep G. Canadell, Philippe Ciais, Robert B. Jackson, Simone R. Alin, Ramdane Alkama, Almut Arneth, Vivek K. Arora, Nicholas R. Bates, Meike Becker, Nicolas Bellouin, Henry C. Bittig, Laurent Bopp, Frédéric Chevallier, Louise P. Chini, Margot Cronin, Wiley Evans, Stefanie Falk, Richard A. Feely, Thomas Gasser, Marion Gehlen, Thanos Gkritzalis, Lucas Gloege, Giacomo Grassi, Nicolas Gruber, Özgür Gürses, Ian Harris, Matthew Hefner, Richard A. Houghton, George C. Hurtt, Yosuke Iida, Tatiana Ilyina, Atul K. Jain, Annika Jersild, Koji Kadono, Etsushi Kato, Daniel Kennedy, Kees Klein Goldewijk, Jürgen Knauer, Jan Ivar Korsbakken, Peter Landschützer, Nathalie Lefèvre, Keith Lindsay, Junjie Liu, Zhu Liu, Gregg Marland, Nicolas Mayot, Matthew J. McGrath, Nicolas Metzl, Natalie M. Monacci, David R. Munro, Shin-Ichiro Nakaoka, Yosuke Niwa, Kevin O'Brien, Tsuneo Ono, Paul I. Palmer, Naiqing Pan, Denis Pierrot, Katie Pocock, Benjamin Poulter, Laure Resplandy, Eddy Robertson, Christian Rödenbeck, Carmen Rodriguez, Thais M. Rosan, Jörg Schwinger, Roland Séférian, Jamie D. Shutler, Ingunn Skjelvan, Tobias Steinhoff, Qing Sun, Adrienne J. Sutton, Colm Sweeney, Shintaro Takao, Toste Tanhua, Pieter P. Tans, Xiangjun Tian, Hanqin Tian, Bronte Tilbrook, Hiroyuki Tsujino, Francesco Tubiello, Guido R. van der Werf, Anthony P. Walker, Rik Wanninkhof, Chris Whitehead, Anna Willstrand Wranne, Rebecca Wright, Wenping Yuan, Chao Yue, Xu Yue, Sönke Zaehle, Jiye Zeng, and Bo Zheng
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4811–4900, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4811-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4811-2022, 2022
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The Global Carbon Budget 2022 describes the datasets and methodology used to quantify the anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and their partitioning among the atmosphere, the land ecosystems, and the ocean. These living datasets are updated every year to provide the highest transparency and traceability in the reporting of CO2, the key driver of climate change.
Rainer Kiko, Marc Picheral, David Antoine, Marcel Babin, Léo Berline, Tristan Biard, Emmanuel Boss, Peter Brandt, Francois Carlotti, Svenja Christiansen, Laurent Coppola, Leandro de la Cruz, Emilie Diamond-Riquier, Xavier Durrieu de Madron, Amanda Elineau, Gabriel Gorsky, Lionel Guidi, Helena Hauss, Jean-Olivier Irisson, Lee Karp-Boss, Johannes Karstensen, Dong-gyun Kim, Rachel M. Lekanoff, Fabien Lombard, Rubens M. Lopes, Claudie Marec, Andrew M. P. McDonnell, Daniela Niemeyer, Margaux Noyon, Stephanie H. O'Daly, Mark D. Ohman, Jessica L. Pretty, Andreas Rogge, Sarah Searson, Masashi Shibata, Yuji Tanaka, Toste Tanhua, Jan Taucher, Emilia Trudnowska, Jessica S. Turner, Anya Waite, and Lars Stemmann
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4315–4337, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4315-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4315-2022, 2022
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The term
marine particlescomprises detrital aggregates; fecal pellets; bacterioplankton, phytoplankton and zooplankton; and even fish. Here, we present a global dataset that contains 8805 vertical particle size distribution profiles obtained with Underwater Vision Profiler 5 (UVP5) camera systems. These data are valuable to the scientific community, as they can be used to constrain important biogeochemical processes in the ocean, such as the flux of carbon to the deep sea.
Pierre Friedlingstein, Matthew W. Jones, Michael O'Sullivan, Robbie M. Andrew, Dorothee C. E. Bakker, Judith Hauck, Corinne Le Quéré, Glen P. Peters, Wouter Peters, Julia Pongratz, Stephen Sitch, Josep G. Canadell, Philippe Ciais, Rob B. Jackson, Simone R. Alin, Peter Anthoni, Nicholas R. Bates, Meike Becker, Nicolas Bellouin, Laurent Bopp, Thi Tuyet Trang Chau, Frédéric Chevallier, Louise P. Chini, Margot Cronin, Kim I. Currie, Bertrand Decharme, Laique M. Djeutchouang, Xinyu Dou, Wiley Evans, Richard A. Feely, Liang Feng, Thomas Gasser, Dennis Gilfillan, Thanos Gkritzalis, Giacomo Grassi, Luke Gregor, Nicolas Gruber, Özgür Gürses, Ian Harris, Richard A. Houghton, George C. Hurtt, Yosuke Iida, Tatiana Ilyina, Ingrid T. Luijkx, Atul Jain, Steve D. Jones, Etsushi Kato, Daniel Kennedy, Kees Klein Goldewijk, Jürgen Knauer, Jan Ivar Korsbakken, Arne Körtzinger, Peter Landschützer, Siv K. Lauvset, Nathalie Lefèvre, Sebastian Lienert, Junjie Liu, Gregg Marland, Patrick C. McGuire, Joe R. Melton, David R. Munro, Julia E. M. S. Nabel, Shin-Ichiro Nakaoka, Yosuke Niwa, Tsuneo Ono, Denis Pierrot, Benjamin Poulter, Gregor Rehder, Laure Resplandy, Eddy Robertson, Christian Rödenbeck, Thais M. Rosan, Jörg Schwinger, Clemens Schwingshackl, Roland Séférian, Adrienne J. Sutton, Colm Sweeney, Toste Tanhua, Pieter P. Tans, Hanqin Tian, Bronte Tilbrook, Francesco Tubiello, Guido R. van der Werf, Nicolas Vuichard, Chisato Wada, Rik Wanninkhof, Andrew J. Watson, David Willis, Andrew J. Wiltshire, Wenping Yuan, Chao Yue, Xu Yue, Sönke Zaehle, and Jiye Zeng
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1917–2005, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1917-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1917-2022, 2022
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The Global Carbon Budget 2021 describes the data sets and methodology used to quantify the emissions of carbon dioxide and their partitioning among the atmosphere, land, and ocean. These living data are updated every year to provide the highest transparency and traceability in the reporting of CO2, the key driver of climate change.
Jannes Koelling, Dariia Atamanchuk, Johannes Karstensen, Patricia Handmann, and Douglas W. R. Wallace
Biogeosciences, 19, 437–454, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-437-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-437-2022, 2022
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In this study, we investigate oxygen variability in the deep western boundary current in the Labrador Sea from multiyear moored records. We estimate that about half of the oxygen taken up in the interior Labrador Sea by air–sea gas exchange during deep water formation is exported southward the same year. Our results underline the complexity of the oxygen uptake and export in the Labrador Sea and highlight the important role this region plays in supplying oxygen to the deep ocean.
Krysten Rutherford, Katja Fennel, Dariia Atamanchuk, Douglas Wallace, and Helmuth Thomas
Biogeosciences, 18, 6271–6286, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-6271-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-6271-2021, 2021
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Using a regional model of the northwestern North Atlantic shelves in combination with a surface water time series and repeat transect observations, we investigate surface CO2 variability on the Scotian Shelf. The study highlights a strong seasonal cycle in shelf-wide pCO2 and spatial variability throughout the summer months driven by physical events. The simulated net flux of CO2 on the Scotian Shelf is out of the ocean, deviating from the global air–sea CO2 flux trend in continental shelves.
Siv K. Lauvset, Nico Lange, Toste Tanhua, Henry C. Bittig, Are Olsen, Alex Kozyr, Marta Álvarez, Susan Becker, Peter J. Brown, Brendan R. Carter, Leticia Cotrim da Cunha, Richard A. Feely, Steven van Heuven, Mario Hoppema, Masao Ishii, Emil Jeansson, Sara Jutterström, Steve D. Jones, Maren K. Karlsen, Claire Lo Monaco, Patrick Michaelis, Akihiko Murata, Fiz F. Pérez, Benjamin Pfeil, Carsten Schirnick, Reiner Steinfeldt, Toru Suzuki, Bronte Tilbrook, Anton Velo, Rik Wanninkhof, Ryan J. Woosley, and Robert M. Key
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5565–5589, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5565-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5565-2021, 2021
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GLODAP is a data product for ocean inorganic carbon and related biogeochemical variables measured by the chemical analysis of water bottle samples from scientific cruises. GLODAPv2.2021 is the third update of GLODAPv2 from 2016. The data that are included have been subjected to extensive quality control, including systematic evaluation of measurement biases. This version contains data from 989 hydrographic cruises covering the world's oceans from 1972 to 2020.
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Short summary
Transient tracer data, measured for the first time in 2022 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, reveal older deep waters in the east than the west, contrary to expected estuarine circulation, indicating increased influence of older, warmer, less oxygenated North Atlantic Central Water over younger, oxygen-rich Labrador Current Water. While consistent with previous reports of increasing NACW contribution, our results contradict claims of a complete shift to NACW by 2021, showing that LCW still persists.
Transient tracer data, measured for the first time in 2022 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, reveal...
