Laura Jensen

Evidence for ice-free summers in the late Miocene central Arctic Ocean

Although the permanently to seasonally ice-covered Arctic Ocean is a unique and sensitive component in the Earths climate system, the knowledge of its long-term climate history remains very limited due to the restricted number of pre-Quaternary sedimentary records. During Polarstern Expedition PS87/2014, we discovered multiple submarine landslides along Lomonosov Ridge. Removal of younger sediments from steep headwalls has led to exhumation of Miocene sediments close to the seafloor. Here we document the presence of IP25 as a proxy for spring sea-ice cover and alkenone-based summer sea-surface temperatures >4 °C that support a seasonal sea-ice cover with an ice-free summer season being predominant during the late Miocene in the central Arctic Ocean. A comparison of our proxy data with Miocene climate simulations seems to favour either relatively high late Miocene atmospheric CO2 concentrations and/or a weak sensitivity of the model to simulate the magnitude of high-latitude warming in a warmer than modern climate.

Arctic megaslide at presumed rest

Slope failure like in the Hinlopen/Yermak Megaslide is one of the major geohazards in a changing Arctic environment. We analysed hydroacoustic and 2D high-resolution seismic data from the apparently intact continental slope immediately north of the Hinlopen/Yermak Megaslide for signs of past and future instabilities. Our new bathymetry and seismic data show clear evidence for incipient slope instability. Minor slide deposits and an internally-deformed sedimentary layer near the base of the gas hydrate stability zone imply an incomplete failure event, most probably about 30000 years ago, contemporaneous to or shortly after the Hinlopen/Yermak Megaslide. An active gas reservoir at the base of the gas hydrate stability zone demonstrate that over-pressured fluids might have played a key role in the initiation of slope failure at the studied slope, but more importantly also for the giant HYM slope failure. To date, it is not clear, if the studied slope is fully preconditioned to fail completely in future or if it might be slowly deforming and creeping at present. We detected widespread methane seepage on the adjacent shallow shelf areas not sealed by gas hydrates.

The Southwest Indian Ocean Bathymetric Compilation (swIOBC)

We present a comprehensive regional bathymetric data compilation for the southwest Indian Ocean (swIOBC) covering the area from 4°S to 40°S and 20°E to 45°E with a spatial resolution of 250 m. For this, we used multibeam and singlebeam data as well as data from global bathymetric data compilations. We generated the swIOBC using an iterative approach of manual data cleaning and gridding, accounting for different data qualities and seamless integration of all different kinds of data. In comparison to existing bathymetric charts of this region, the new swIOBC benefits from nearly four times as many data-constrained grid cells and a higher resolution, and thus reveals formerly unseen seabed features. In the central Mozambique Basin a surprising variety of landscapes were discovered. They document a deep reaching influence of the Mozambique Current eddies. Details of the N-S trending Zambezi Channel could be imaged in the central Mozambique Basin. Maps are crucial not only for orientation but also to set scientific processes and local information in a spatial context. For most parts of the ocean seafloor, maps are derived from satellite data with only kilometer resolution. Acoustic depth measurements from ships provide more detailed seafloor information in tens to hundreds of meters resolution. For the southwest Indian Ocean, all available depth soundings from a variety of sources and institutes are combined in one coherent map. Thus, in areas where depth soundings exist, this map shows the seafloor in so-far unknown detail. This detailed map forms the base for subsequent studies of e.g. the direction of ocean currents, geological and biological processes in the southwest Indian Ocean.

The southwest Indian Ocean Bathymetric Compilation (swIOBC)

As result of long-term scientific activities in the southwest Indian Ocean, an extensive amount of swath bathymetric data has accumulated in the AWI database. Using this data as a backbone, supplemented by additional bathymetric data sets and predicted bathymetry, we generate a comprehensive regional bathymetric data compilation for the southwest Indian Ocean. A high resolution bathymetric chart of this region will support geological and climate research: Identification of current-induced seabed structures will help modelling oceanic currents and, thus, provide proxy information about the paleo-climate. Analysis of the sediment distribution will contribute to reconstruct the erosional history of Eastern Africa. The aim of swIOBC is to produce a homogeneous and seamless bathymetric grid with an associated meta-database and a corresponding map for the area from 5° to 39° S and 20° to 44° E. Recently, multibeam data with a track length of approximately 86,000 km are held in-house. In combination with external echosounding data this allows for the generation of a regional grid, significantly improving the existing, mostly satellite altimetry derived, bathymetric models. The collected data sets are heterogeneous in terms of age, acquisition system, background data, resolution, accuracy, and documentation. As a consequence, the production of a bathymetric grid requires special techniques and algorithms, which were already developed for the IBCAO (Jakobsson et al., 2012) and further refined for the IBCSO (Arndt et al., 2013). The new regional southwest Indian Ocean chart will be created based on these methods. Arndt, J.E., et al., 2013. The International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO) Version 1.0—A new bathymetric compilation covering circum-Antarctic waters. GRL 40, 1-7, doi: 10.1002/grl.50413, 2013. Jakobsson, M., et al., 2012. The International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) Version 3.0. GRL 39, L12609, doi: 10.1029/2012GL052219.

Corrigendum: Arctic megaslide at presumed rest

Scientific Reports 6: Article number: 38529; published online: 06 December 2016; updated: 17 May 2017 In Figure 1, the latitudes ‘80.5 N’ and ‘81.0 N’ were incorrectly given as ‘81.0 N’ and ‘81.5 N’ respectively. In addition, the scale between 0 km and 40 km was incorrectly given as between 0 km and80 km.