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Biogeochemistry

Rusty meltwaters

Iron limits plankton productivity in large regions of the global ocean. Analyses of meltwater from the Greenland ice sheet suggests that subglacial weathering delivers significant quantities of biologically available iron to the North Atlantic Ocean.

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Figure 1: Iron-rich waters draining a glacier in Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.

© JEREMY D. OWENS

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Correspondence to Rob Raiswell.

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Raiswell, R. Rusty meltwaters. Nature Geosci 6, 251–252 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1776

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