A decade of progress in understanding cycles of trace elements and their isotopes in the oceans

Abstract

We present an overview of a Virtual Special Issue (VSI) entitled “Cycles of trace elements and isotopes in the ocean - GEOTRACES and beyond.” In addition to hosting the overview of the GEOTRACES Intermediate Data Product 2017, we highlight the contents of 30 other articles that comprise the VSI. These articles contribute to the International GEOTRACES mission in four areas of discovery: developments in marine transition metal isotope analysis; the role of the Southern Ocean in driving global trace element cycling; advances in understanding of the utility of rare-earth elements and natural and anthropogenic radionuclides as tracers of ocean processes; and using aerosols, particles, and elemental speciation to interrogate processes driving trace element cycles. We close by highlighting the future direction of developments in the field.