Description: Nearly half the inflow of warm and saline Atlantic Water (AW) to the Arctic Ocean is substantially cooled and freshened in the Barents Sea, which is therefore considered a key region for water mass transformation in the Arctic Mediterranean. Numerous studies have focused on this transformation and the increasing influence of AW on Arctic climate and biodiversity, yet geochemical investigations of these processes have been scarce. Using the first comprehensive data set of the distributions of dissolved radiogenic neodymium (Nd) isotopes (expressed as ɛNd), rare earth elements (REE) and stable oxygen isotope (δ18O) compositions from this region we are able to constrain the transport and transformation of AW in the Barents Sea and to investigate which processes change the chemical composition of the water masses beyond what is expected from circulation and mixing. Inflowing AW and Norwegian Coastal Water (NCW) both exhibit distinctly unradiogenic ɛNd signatures of -12.4 and -14.5, respectively, whereas cold and dense Polar Water (PW) has considerably more radiogenic ɛNd signatures reaching up to -8.1. Locally formed Barents Sea Atlantic Water (BSAW) and Barents Sea Arctic Atlantic Water (BSAAW) are encountered in the northeastern Barents Sea and have intermediate ɛNd values resulting from admixture of PW containing small amounts of riverine freshwater from the Ob (〈 ~1.1 %) to AW and NCW. Similar to the Laptev Sea, the dissolved Nd isotope composition in the Barents Sea seems to be mainly controlled by water mass advection and mixing despite its shallow water depth. Strikingly, the BSAW and BSAAW are marked by the lowest REE concentrations reaching 11 pmol/kg for Nd ([Nd]), which in contrast to the Nd isotopes, cannot be attributed to the admixture of REE-rich Ob freshwater to AW or NCW ([Nd] = 16.7, and 22 pmol/kg, respectively) and instead reflects REE removal from the dissolved phase with preferential removal of the light over the heavy REEs. The REE removal is, however, not explainable by estuarine REE behavior alone, suggesting that scavenging by (re)suspended (biogenic) particles occurs locally in the Barents Sea. Regardless of the exact cause of REE depletion, we show that AW transformation is accompanied by geochemical changes independent of water mass mixing.

Description: To identify the processes mainly controlling the Nd isotopic composition and concentration along a transect from the Equatorial to the North Pacific and to assess the suitability of Nd isotope compositions to trace water mass advection and mixing in this region, we collected filtered seawater samples from full water column profiles conducted along a transect from 7°S, 179°W to 52°N, 168°E. The samples were recovered during RV Sonne cruise SO264 in July and August 2018 using 24 non-metallic 10 litre Niskin bottles mounted on a frame equipped with a SBE 9plus CTD profiler (Sea-Bird Electronics Inc.) and two oxygen sensors (SBE 43 oxygen self-regenerative Clark-sensors with Teflon membrane). The dataset includes the dissolved radiogenic Nd isotope and concentration data of 57 seawater samples, which provide important information on the formation, advection and mixing of different water masses.