Sea ice in the Arctic is one of the most rapidly changing components of the global climate system. Over the past few decades, summer areal extent has declined over 30%, and all months show statistically significant declining trends. New satellite missions and techniques have greatly expanded information on sea ice thickness, but many uncertainties remain in the satellite data and long-term records are sparse. However, thickness observations and other satellite-derived data indicate a 40% decline in thickness, due in large part to the loss of thicker, older ice cover. The changes in sea ice are happening faster than models have projected. With continued increasing temperatures, summer ice-free conditions are likely sometime in the coming decades, though there are substantial uncertainties in the exact timing and high interannual variability will remain as sea ice decreases. The changes in Arctic sea ice are already having an impact on flora and fauna in the Arctic. Some species will face increasing challenges in the future, while new habitat will open up for other species. The changes are also affecting people living and working in the Arctic. Native communities are facing challenges to their traditional ways of life, while new opportunities open for shipping, fishing, and natural resource extraction. Significant progress has been made in recent years in understanding of Arctic sea ice and its role in climate, the ecosystem, and human activities. However, significant challenges remain in furthering the knowledge of the processes, impacts, and future evolution of the system.

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[1] We have developed a coupled snow-ice-ice algae model to investigate the importance of different ice algal growth limitation terms, as well as different loss terms, in regulating the ice algal biomass accumulation at the bottom of landfast ice in the Canadian Archipelago. The model results are compared with data collected from May to July 2002 at a station near Resolute in Barrow Strait. Our results show that ice algae are light limited at the beginning of the bloom, then fluctuate between light and nutrient limitation, finally remaining nutrient limited toward the end of the bloom. The fortnightly tide modulates the ice algal biomass through the supply of nutrient to the ice algal layer but mainly through modulation of the bottom ice melt rate. We also demonstrate that the bottom ice melt rate regulates the maximum biomass attained in the region and that a rapid increase in ice temperature can lead to a significant decline in ice algal biomass. The eventual termination of the bloom is triggered by melting of the snow cover and results from (1) increased ice algal losses due to high bottom ice melt rate and (2) decreased ice algal growth due to nutrient limitation caused by the formation of a meltwater lens below the ice. Finally, our results show that the snow cover controls the length of the bloom, such that earlier snowmelt that is expected to accompany climate warming may lead to a reduction in ice algal production.

Comprehensive investigations of the Canadian Arctic during late summer and early fall revealed the widespread occurrence of long-lived subsurface chlorophyll maxima (SCM) in seasonally ice-free waters. The vertical position of the SCM corresponded with the depth of the subsurface biomass maximum (SBM), at least in Baffin Bay, suggesting that SCM could be an important source of carbon for the food web. Most of these SCM were located well below the pycnocline in close association with the nitracline, implying that their vertical position was driven mainly by a shortage of inorganic nitrogen in the upper euphotic zone. The diversity of SCM configurations with respect to physical properties of the water column complicates the estimation of euphotic-zone chlorophyll and primary production from surface properties. High photosynthetic yields (F v /F m ) showed the phytoplankton to be photosynthetically competent and well acclimated to conditions of irradiance and nutrient supply near the surface and at the SCM. A well-defined primary nitrite maximum was associated with the SCM in the southwest Canadian Arctic, but not in the northeast where nitrite concentrations were highest much below the euphotic zone. This contrast is consistent with differences in vertical stratification, the light -dark cycle and, possibly, the physiological state and taxonomic composition of the phytoplankton community at the SCM. This study demonstrates that the SCM, once regarded as anecdotal due to under-sampling, are a dominant feature of the Arctic Ocean that should be considered in remote sensing studies and biogeochemical models.

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International audienceObservations from the last decade suggest an important role of sea ice in the global biogeochemical cycles, promoted by (i) active biological and chemical processes within the sea ice; (ii) fluid and gas exchanges at the sea ice interface through an often permeable sea ice cover; and (iii) tight physical, biological and chemical interactions between the sea ice, the ocean and the atmosphere. Photosynthetic micro-organisms in sea ice thrive in liquid brine inclusions encased in a pure ice matrix, where they find suitable light and nutrient levels. They extend the production season, provide a winter and early spring food source, and contribute to organic carbon export to depth. Under-ice and ice edge phytoplankton blooms occur when ice retreats, favoured by increasing light, stratification, and by the release of material into the water column. In particular, the release of iron - highly concentrated in sea ice - could have large effects in the iron-limited Southern Ocean. The export of inorganic carbon transport by brine sinking below the mixed layer, calcium carbonate precipitation in sea ice, as well as active ice-atmosphere carbon dioxide (CO₂) fluxes, could play a central role in the marine carbon cycle. Sea ice processes could also significantly contribute to the sulphur cycle through the large production by ice algae of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), the precursor of sulphate aerosols, which as cloud condensation nuclei have a potential cooling effect on the planet. Finally, the sea ice zone supports significant ocean-atmosphere methane (CH₄) fluxes, while saline ice surfaces activate springtime atmospheric bromine chemistry, setting ground for tropospheric ozone depletion events observed near both poles. All these mechanisms are generally known, but neither precisely understood nor quantified at large scales. As polar regions are rapidly changing, understanding the large-scale polar marine biogeochemical processes and their future evolution is of high priority. Earth system models should in this context prove essential, but they currently represent sea ice as biologically and chemically inert. Palaeoclimatic proxies are also relevant, in particular the sea ice proxies, inferring past sea ice conditions from glacial and marine sediment core records and providing analogues for future changes. Being highly constrained by marine biogeochemistry, sea ice proxies would not only contribute to but also benefit from a better understanding of polar marine biogeochemical cycles

[1] Extensive spatial and temporal observations of sea ice algae remain limited due in part to current destructive and time intensive sampling techniques. In this paper we examine the influence of snow cover and ice algal biomass on the spectral dependence of photosynthetically available radiation transmitted through the snow-ice matrix using a data set collected in Resolute Passage, Canada, from 3 to 21 May 2003. The relationships between a normalized difference index (NDI) of transmitted irradiance with ice algal biomass and with snow cover provided a means to examine and compare observational and modeled data. In contrast to the dominant scattering properties of snow, absorption largely controls the spectral diffuse attenuation coefficient of algae. Our results show that snow has little effect on the distribution of transmitted spectral irradiance at wavelengths between 400 and 550 nm, whereas algae have a strong absorption peak near 440 nm that dominates changes in spectral transmission across this wavelength range. Up to 89% of the total variation in algae biomass was accounted for with a single NDI wavelength combination. Therefore the blue wavelength peak in algal spectral absorption lends particularly well to the remote estimation of algae biomass using transmitted irradiance. Deviations between observed and modeled data highlight the need for improvements to model inputs and therefore more detailed observations of processes controlling snow, ice, and algae in situ optical properties.Citation: Mundy, C. J., J. K. Ehn, D. G. Barber, and C. Michel (2007), Influence of snow cover and algae on the spectral dependence of transmitted irradiance through Arctic landfast first-year sea ice,

During a year-round occupation of Amundsen Gulf in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago dissolved inorganic and organic carbon (DIC, DOC), total alkalinity (TA), partial pressure of CO 2 (pCO 2 ) and related parameters were measured over a full annual cycle. A two-box model was used to identify and assess physical, biological, and chemical processes responsible for the seasonal variability of DIC, DOC, TA, and pCO 2 . Surface waters were undersaturated with respect to atmospheric CO 2 throughout the year and constituted a net sink of 1.2 mol C m 22 yr 21 , with ice coverage and ice formation limiting the CO 2 uptake during winter. CO 2 uptake was largely driven by under ice and open-water biological activity, with high subsequent export of organic matter to the deeper water column. Annual net community production (NCP) was 2.1 mol C m 22 yr 21 . Approximately one-half of the overall NCP during the productive season (4.1 mol C m 22 from Apr through Aug) was generated by under-ice algae and amounted to 1.9 mol C m 22 over this period. The surface layer was autotrophic, while the overall heterotrophy of the system was fueled by either sedimentary or lateral inputs of organic matter.