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Today, relatively warm Circumpolar Deep Water is melting Thwaites Glacier at the base of its ice shelf and at the grounding zone, contributing to significant ice retreat. Accelerating ice loss has been observed since the 1970s; however, it is unclear when this phase of significant melting initiated. We analyzed the marine sedimentary record to reconstruct Thwaites Glacier’s history from the early Holocene to present. Marine geophysical surveys were carried out along the floating ice-shelf margin to identify core locations from various geomorphic settings. We use sedimentological data and physical properties to define sedimentary facies at seven core sites. Glaciomarine sediment deposits reveal that the grounded ice in the Amundsen Sea Embayment had already retreated to within ~45 km of the modern grounding zone prior to ca. 9,400 y ago. Sediments deposited within the past 100+ y record abrupt changes in environmental conditions. On seafloor highs, these shifts document ice-shelf thinning initiating at least as early as the 1940s. Sediments recovered from deep basins reflect a transition from ice proximal to slightly more distal conditions, suggesting ongoing grounding-zone retreat since the 1950s. The timing of ice-shelf unpinning from the seafloor for Thwaites Glacier coincides with similar records from neighboring Pine Island Glacier. Our work provides robust new evidence that glacier retreat in the Amundsen Sea was initiated in the mid-twentieth century, likely associated with climate variability.

Most of the nitrogen (N) accessible for life is trapped in dinitrogen (N 2 ), the most stable atmospheric molecule. In order to be metabolized by living organisms, N 2 has to be converted into biologically assimilable forms, so-called fixed N. Nowadays, nearly all the N-fixation is achieved through biological and anthropogenic processes. However, in early prebiotic environments of the Earth, N-fixation must have occurred via natural abiotic processes. One of the most invoked processes is electrical discharges, including from thunderstorms and lightning associated with volcanic eruptions. Despite the frequent occurrence of volcanic lightning during explosive eruptions and convincing laboratory experimentation, no evidence of substantial N-fixation has been found in any geological archive. Here, we report on the discovery of a significant amount of nitrate in volcanic deposits from Neogene caldera-forming eruptions, which are well correlated with the concentrations of species directly emitted by volcanoes (sulfur, chlorine). The multi-isotopic composition (δ 18 O, Δ 17 O) of the nitrates reveals that they originate from the atmospheric oxidation of nitrogen oxides formed by volcanic lightning. According to these first geological volcanic nitrate archive, we estimate that, on average, about 60 Tg of N can be fixed during a large explosive event. Our findings hint at a unique role potentially played by subaerial explosive eruptions in supplying essential ingredients for the emergence of life on Earth. International audience

Our understanding of ocean-cloud interactions and their effect on climate lacks insight into a key pathway: do biogenic marine emissions form new particles in the open ocean atmosphere? Using measurements collected in ship-borne air-sea interface tanks deployed in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean, we identified new particle formation (NPF) during nighttime that was related to plankton community composition. We show that nitrate ions are the only species for which abundance could support NPF rates in our semicontrolled experiments. Nitrate ions also prevailed in the natural pristine marine atmosphere and were elevated under higher sub-10 nm particle concentrations. We hypothesize that these nucleation events were fueled by complex, short-term biogeochemical cycling involving the microbial loop. These findings suggest a new perspective with a previously unidentified role of nitrate of marine biogeochemical origin in aerosol nucleation. We acknowledge the support and expertise of the Officers and Crew of the R/V Tangaroa and National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) Vessel Services. This research received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Sea2Cloud grant agreement number - 771369 and grant agreement number 101002728) and was supported by NIWA SSIF funding to the Ocean-Climate Interactions, and Flows and Productivity Programs. The support from the Academy of Finland (331207) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is greatly appreciated. 9 pags. 3 figs. Peer reviewed

Polymicrobial infections threaten the health of humans and animals but remain understudied in natural systems. We recently described the Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS), a polymicrobial disease affecting oyster production worldwide. In the French Atlantic coast, the disease involves coinfection with ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) and virulent Vibrio . However, it is unknown whether consistent Vibrio populations are associated with POMS in different regions, how Vibrio contribute to POMS, and how they interact with OsHV-1 during pathogenesis. By connecting field-based approaches in a Mediterranean ecosystem, laboratory infection assays and functional genomics, we uncovered a web of interdependencies that shape the structure and function of the POMS pathobiota. We show that Vibrio harveyi and Vibrio rotiferianus are predominant in OsHV-1-diseased oysters and that OsHV-1 drives the partition of the Vibrio community observed in the field. However only V. harveyi synergizes with OsHV-1 by promoting mutual growth and accelerating oyster death. V. harveyi shows high-virulence potential and dampens oyster cellular defenses through a type 3 secretion system, making oysters a more favorable niche for microbe colonization. In addition, V. harveyi produces a key siderophore called vibrioferrin. This important resource promotes the growth of V. rotiferianus , which cooccurs with V. harveyi in diseased oysters, and behaves as a cheater by benefiting from V. harveyi metabolite sharing. Our data show that cooperative behaviors contribute to synergy between bacterial and viral coinfecting partners. Additional cheating behaviors further shape the polymicrobial consortium. Controlling cooperative behaviors or countering their effects opens avenues for mitigating polymicrobial diseases. International audience

Prochlorococcus is a key member of open-ocean primary producer communities. Despite its importance, little is known about the predators that consume this cyanobacterium and make its biomass available to higher trophic levels. We identify potential predators along a gradient wherein Prochlorococcus abundance increased from near detection limits (coastal California) to >200,000 cells mL−1 (subtropical North Pacific Gyre). A replicated RNA-Stable Isotope Probing experiment involving the in situ community, and labeled Prochlorococcus as prey, revealed choanoflagellates as the most active predators of Prochlorococcus, alongside a radiolarian, chrysophytes, dictyochophytes, and specific MAST lineages. These predators were not appropriately highlighted in multiyear conventional 18S rRNA gene amplicon surveys where dinoflagellates and other taxa had highest relative amplicon abundances across the gradient. In identifying direct consumers of Prochlorococcus, we reveal food-web linkages of individual protistan taxa and resolve routes of carbon transfer from the base of marine food webs 3 pages, 2 figures, supporting information https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2302388120.-- Data, Materials, and Software Availability: Amplicons have been deposited in Sequence Read Archive (SRA) under bioproject PRJNA972531. All other data are included in the article and/or supporting information Funding came from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Grant 3788 (to A.Z.W.), and EC’s FP7 Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant 626182 (to S.W.). V.J. was funded partially by BIOS-SCOPE (Simons Foundation International) With the institutional support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S) Peer reviewed

Reduced nitrogen (N) is central to global biogeochemistry, yet there are large uncertainties surrounding its sources and rate of cycling. Here, we present observations of gas-phase urea (CO(NH 2 ) 2 ) in the atmosphere from airborne high-resolution mass spectrometer measurements over the North Atlantic Ocean. We show that urea is ubiquitous in the lower troposphere in the summer, autumn, and winter but was not detected in the spring. The observations suggest that the ocean is the primary emission source, but further studies are required to understand the responsible mechanisms. Urea is also observed aloft due to long-range transport of biomass-burning plumes. These observations alongside global model simulations point to urea being an important, and currently unaccounted for, component of reduced-N to the remote marine atmosphere. Airborne transfer of urea between nutrient-rich and -poor parts of the ocean can occur readily and could impact ecosystems and oceanic uptake of carbon dioxide, with potentially important climate implications.

The last glacial cycle provides the opportunity to investigate large changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) beyond the small fluctuations evidenced from direct measurements. Paleotemperature records from Greenland and the North Atlantic show an abrupt variability, called Dansgaard–Oeschger (DO) events, which is associated with abrupt changes of the AMOC. These DO events also have Southern Hemisphere counterparts via the thermal bipolar seesaw, a concept describing the meridional heat transport leading to asynchronous temperature changes between both hemispheres. However, temperature records from the North Atlantic show more pronounced DO cooling events during massive releases of icebergs known as Heinrich (H) events, contrary to ice-core–based temperature records from Greenland. Here, we present high-resolution temperature records from the Iberian Margin and a Bipolar Seesaw Index to discriminate DO cooling events with and without H events. We show that the thermal bipolar seesaw model generates synthetic Southern Hemisphere temperature records that best resemble Antarctic temperature records when using temperature records from the Iberian Margin as inputs. Our data-model comparison emphasizes the role of the thermal bipolar seesaw in the abrupt temperature variability of both hemispheres with a clear enhancement during DO cooling events with H events, implying a relationship that is more complex than a simple flip-flop between two climate states linked to a tipping point threshold. International audience