Description: The Baltic Sea is an enclosed marine system that suffers from expanding zones of oxygen deficiency due to limited ventilation by the episodic inflow of oxygenated North Sea water combined with high anthropogenic nutrient loads. In particular coastal areas are strongly influenced by eutrophication that leads to enhanced microbial oxygen consumption and sporadic anoxia even at shallow sites. It has been shown that oxygen availability is a powerful determinant of the taxonomic composition of prokaryotic communities in deep waters of the Baltic Sea. However, it remains unclear if community changes in response to low oxygen impact carbon remineralization or if functional redundancy prevents effects on major biogeochemical processes driven by bacterial activity. Our study includes monthly samplings at a coastal time series station over three annual cycles with recurring anoxic periods in late summer. Furthermore, sampling was accomplished in the deep Gotland Basin, where a permanent pycnocline prevents vertical mixing. We determined rates of extracellular glucosidase, aminopeptidase and phosphatase, as well as bacterial protein production using fluorescent and radioactive labelled substrate analogues, respectively. The rate measurements were combined with the analysis of organic matter concentration and composition by different analytical tools. Field data and experimental work show that enzymatic polymer hydrolysis, bacterial biomass production and growth rates in oxygen deficient waters of the Baltic Sea are not inherently lower than in oxic waters. Instead, results reveal that the reactivity of organic carbon and the availability of inorganic nutrients are more powerful constraints on organic matter turnover in oxygen deficient zones of the Baltic Sea. Our results imply that oxygen availability alone is not the decisive factor for heterotrophic bacterial activity in deep waters, instead it is part of a multiple environmental control of carbon remineralization.

Description: Oceanic bromocarbons are highly reactive volatile organic compounds and may contribute up to 40% of stratospheric ozone depletion in mid latitudes. High sea-air fluxes of bromocarbons in the tropical regions have been related to biological cycling in the surface ocean, mainly to phytoplankton and bacteria, but the underlying processes and magnitude of the biogenic sources and sinks are poorly known. Recently, it has been suggested that reactive halogen species in seawater halogenate dissolved organic matter (DOM) releasing halogenated trace gases. In order to understand temporal and spatial fluctuations of oceanic bromocarbon emissions, we studied microbial production and removal processes in the surface ocean during research cruises in low, temperate and high latitudes. Water samples were incubated with 13C-labelled bromoform (CHBr3) and deuteraded dibromomethane (CD2Br2) substrate to determine bromocarbons consumption rates. 12C/13C-bromocarbon concentrations as well as bacterial abundance and organic matter concentrations were monitored to estimate the microbial activity and turn over. Experimental data are compared to measured depth profiles of microbial biomass, bromocarbon and organic matter concentrations.

Description: The interface layer between ocean and atmosphere is only a couple of micrometers thick but plays a critical role in climate relevant processes, including the air-sea exchange of gas and heat and the emission of primary organic aerosols (POA). Recent findings suggest that low-level cloud formation above the Arctic Ocean may be linked to organic polymers produced by marine microorganisms. Sea ice harbors high amounts of polymeric substances that are produced by cells growing within the sea-ice brine. Here, we report from a research cruise to the central Arctic Ocean in 2012. Our study shows that microbial polymers accumulate at the air-sea interface when the sea ice melts. Proteinaceous compounds represented the major fraction of polymers supporting the formation of a gelatinous interface microlayer and providing a hitherto unrecognized potential source of marine POA. Our study indicates a novel link between sea ice-ocean and atmosphere that may be sensitive to climate change.