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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-2645</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Stable isotope signatures, concentrations, and potential supply of particulate organic carbon and nitrogen from summer sea ice in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Takahashi</surname>
<given-names>Keigo D.</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6021-704X</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Makabe</surname>
<given-names>Ryosuke</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Sano</surname>
<given-names>Masayoshi</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7264-9528</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Nakata</surname>
<given-names>Kazuki</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4298-1148</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kimura</surname>
<given-names>Noriaki</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1232-3638</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff7">
<sup>7</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Nomura</surname>
<given-names>Daiki</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3047-4023</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff7">
<sup>7</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff8">
<sup>8</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yamamoto-Kawai</surname>
<given-names>Michiyo</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Matsuda</surname>
<given-names>Ryo</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff9">
<sup>9</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Nojiro</surname>
<given-names>Natsumi</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ito</surname>
<given-names>Masato</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff10">
<sup>10</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Takao</surname>
<given-names>Shintaro</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff11">
<sup>11</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Horimoto-Miyazaki</surname>
<given-names>Naho</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Tachibana</surname>
<given-names>Aiko</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6855-6297</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff12">
<sup>12</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kurosawa</surname>
<given-names>Norio</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5095-2104</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff9">
<sup>9</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Tamura</surname>
<given-names>Takeshi</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8383-8295</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Komatsu</surname>
<given-names>Mizuki</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff13">
<sup>13</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ohshima</surname>
<given-names>Kay I.</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff14">
<sup>14</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Mizobata</surname>
<given-names>Kohei</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Aoki</surname>
<given-names>Shigeru</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff14">
<sup>14</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Moteki</surname>
<given-names>Masato</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Hakodate, 041-8611, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Chiyoda, 102-0083, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>National Institute of Polar Research, Tachikawa, 190-8518, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, Tachikawa, 190-8518, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff5">
<label>5</label>
<addr-line>Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Minato, 108-8477, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff6">
<label>6</label>
<addr-line>Earth Observation Research Center, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Tsukuba, 305-0047, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff7">
<label>7</label>
<addr-line>Faculty of Education, Kochi University, Kochi, 780-8520, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff8">
<label>8</label>
<addr-line>Arctic Research Center, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 001-0021, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff9">
<label>9</label>
<addr-line>Faculty of Science and Engineering, Soka University, Hachioji, 192-8577, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff10">
<label>10</label>
<addr-line>Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, 277-8561, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff11">
<label>11</label>
<addr-line>National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, 305-8506, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff12">
<label>12</label>
<addr-line>Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Yokohama, 236-8648, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff13">
<label>13</label>
<addr-line>Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama, 236-0001, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff14">
<label>14</label>
<addr-line>Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0819, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>20</day>
<month>05</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>32</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Keigo D. Takahashi et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2645/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2645/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2645/egusphere-2026-2645.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2645/egusphere-2026-2645.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>The primary production and zooplankton life cycles in the Southern Ocean synchronize with seasonal sea ice melting, during which particulate organic carbon (POC) and nitrogen (PN), including ice algae, are supplied from sea ice into the water column. To understand carbon flow through food webs in this productive marginal ice zones, it is necessary to determine the quantity and quality of organic carbon and nitrogen in sea ice. However, knowledge regarding brash sea ice is scarce, even though it is the predominant form at the Antarctic ice edge. In this study, 102 sea-ice samples were collected from the Indian sector (20&amp;ndash;160&amp;deg;E) during summer to clarify variations in isotopic baselines and the potential contribution of sea ice-derived carbon and nitrogen to the water column. The &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C and &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt;N values of sea-ice particulate matter were &amp;minus;24.5&amp;plusmn;3.2&amp;permil; and +1.6&amp;plusmn;2.2&amp;permil; (mean&amp;plusmn;standard deviation), respectively, showing greater variability compared to those in seawater (&amp;minus;28.8&amp;plusmn;1.0&amp;permil; for &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C and &amp;minus;0.5&amp;plusmn;1.4&amp;permil; for &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt;N). We identified correlations of &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C and &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt;N with organic matter and nutrient concentrations and their ratios (e.g., silicate:nitrate), indicating that nutrient consumption and organic matter decomposition influenced those isotopic characteristics in sea ice. Using freshwater flux from sea ice melt and the measured sea-ice POC concentrations, this supply was estimated to be 4.6&amp;plusmn;0.3 Tg C year&lt;sup&gt;&amp;minus;1&lt;/sup&gt;, equivalent to &amp;gt;14% of primary production in the marginal ice zone of the studied region. These results suggest that the carbon supply from sea ice is a crucial factor supporting ecosystems in the seasonal sea ice zone.</p>
</abstract>
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