Nick Hughes

Leads in Arctic pack ice enable early phytoplankton blooms below snow-covered sea ice

The Arctic icescape is rapidly transforming from a thicker multiyear ice cover to a thinner and largely seasonal first-year ice cover with significant consequences for Arctic primary production. One critical challenge is to understand how productivity will change within the next decades. Recent studies have reported extensive phytoplankton blooms beneath ponded sea ice during summer, indicating that satellite-based Arctic annual primary production estimates may be significantly underestimated. Here we present a unique time-series of a phytoplankton spring bloom observed beneath snow-covered Arctic pack ice. The bloom, dominated by the haptophyte algae Phaeocystis pouchetii, caused near depletion of the surface nitrate inventory and a decline in dissolved inorganic carbon by 16 ± 6 g C m−2. Ocean circulation characteristics in the area indicated that the bloom developed in situ despite the snow-covered sea ice. Leads in the dynamic ice cover provided added sunlight necessary to initiate and sustain the bloom. Phytoplankton blooms beneath snow-covered ice might become more common and widespread in the future Arctic Ocean with frequent lead formation due to thinner and more dynamic sea ice despite projected increases in high-Arctic snowfall. This could alter productivity, marine food webs and carbon sequestration in the Arctic Ocean.

Thin ice and storms: Sea ice deformation from buoy arrays deployed during N-ICE2015

Arctic sea ice has displayed significant thinning as well as an increase in drift speed in recent years. Taken together this suggests an associated rise in sea ice deformation rate. A winter and spring expedition to the sea ice covered region north of Svalbard–the Norwegian young sea ICE2015 expedition (N-ICE2015)—gave an opportunity to deploy extensive buoy arrays and to monitor the deformation of the first-year and second-year ice now common in the majority of the Arctic Basin. During the 5 month long expedition, the ice cover underwent several strong deformation events, including a powerful storm in early February that damaged the ice cover irreversibly. The values of total deformation measured during N-ICE2015 exceed previously measured values in the Arctic Basin at similar scales: At 100 km scale, N-ICE2015 values averaged above 0.1 d−1, compared to rates of 0.08 d−1 or less for previous buoy arrays. The exponent of the power law between the deformation length scale and total deformation developed over the season from 0.37 to 0.54 with an abrupt increase immediately after the early February storm, indicating a weakened ice cover with more free drift of the sea ice floes. Our results point to a general increase in deformation associated with the younger and thinner Arctic sea ice and to a potentially destructive role of winter storms.

A systematic method of obtaining ice concentration measurements from ship-based observations

Abstract The distribution and concentration of sea ice plays an important role in the Earths climate system. Although satellite data are used to observe the distribution and concentration of sea ice, the amount of in situ validation data available is limited. This is because of the hostile climate in the polar regions that limits human activity. This letter presents the first results of ice concentration values obtained from a recording system that has been designed to fit on any ship, with minimal interference to ship operations. The digital image data set presented were obtained from the R.V. Jan Mayen scientific cruise to the Greenland Sea, March 2000, which was part of the UK NERC ARCICE scientific programme. The analysis of the digital images using a threshold technique is described, and the results are compared with SSM/I-derived sea ice concentrations along the cruise track.

Ice Tank Experiments Highlight Changes in Sea Ice Types

With the current and likely continuing reduction of summer sea ice extent in the Arctic Ocean, the predominant mechanism of sea ice formation in the Arctic is likely to change in the future. Although substantial new ice formation occurred under preexisting ice in the past, the fraction of sea ice formation in open water likely will increase significantly. In open water, sea ice formation starts with the development of small ice crystals, called frazil ice, which are suspended in the water column [World Meteorological Organization, 1985]. Under quiescent conditions, these crystals accumulate at the surface to form an unbroken ice sheet known in its early stage as nilas. Under turbulent conditions, caused by wind and waves, frazil ice continues to grow and forms into a thick, soupy mixture called grease ice. Eventually the frazil ice will coalesce into small, rounded pieces known as pancake ice, which finally consolidate into an ice sheet with the return of calm conditions. This frazil/pancake/ice sheet cycle is currently frequently observed in the Antarctic [Lange et al., 1989]. The cycle normally occurs in regions that have a significant stretch of open water, because this allows for the formation of larger waves and hence increased turbulence. Given the increase of such open water in the Arctic Ocean caused by retreating summer sea ice, the frazil/pancake/ice sheet cycle may also become the dominant ice formation process during freezeup in the Arctic.

Oil spill response capabilities and technologies for ice-covered Arctic marine waters: A review of recent developments and established practices

Renewed political and commercial interest in the resources of the Arctic, the reduction in the extent and thickness of sea ice, and the recent failings that led to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, have prompted industry and its regulatory agencies, governments, local communities and NGOs to look at all aspects of Arctic oil spill countermeasures with fresh eyes. This paper provides an overview of present oil spill response capabilities and technologies for ice-covered waters, as well as under potential future conditions driven by a changing climate. Though not an exhaustive review, we provide the key research results for oil spill response from knowledge accumulated over many decades, including significant review papers that have been prepared as well as results from recent laboratory tests, field programmes and modelling work. The three main areas covered by the review are as follows: oil weathering and modelling; oil detection and monitoring; and oil spill response techniques.