Arctic warming interrupts the Transpolar Drift and affects long-range transport of sea ice and ice-rafted matter

Abstract

Sea ice is an important transport vehicle for gaseous, dissolved and particulate matter in the Arctic Ocean. Due to the recently observed acceleration in sea ice drift, it has been assumed that more matter is advected by the Transpolar Drift from shallow shelf waters to the central Arctic Ocean and beyond. However, this study provides first evidence that intensified melt in the marginal zones of the Arctic Ocean interrupts the transarctic conveyor belt and has led to a reduction of the survival rates of sea ice exported from the shallow Siberian shelves (−15% per decade). As a consequence, less and less ice formed in shallow water areas (<30 m) has reached Fram Strait (−17% per decade), and more ice and ice-rafted material is released in the northern Laptev Sea and central Arctic Ocean. Decreasing survival rates of first-year ice are visible all along the Russian shelves, but significant only in the Kara Sea, East Siberian Sea and western Laptev Sea. Identified changes affect biogeochemical fluxes and ecological processes in the central Arctic: A reduced long-range transport of sea ice alters transport and redistribution of climate relevant gases, and increases accumulation of sediments and contaminates in the central Arctic Ocean, with consequences for primary production, and the biodiversity of the Arctic Ocean.

Retrieval of Wintertime Sea Ice Production in Arctic Polynyas Using Thermal Infrared and Passive Microwave Remote Sensing Data

“…A follow‐up data set that extends this record using AMSR2 data is currently under development. As could be shown in this study, previously observed positive trends in IP (Preußer et al, ) on the Siberian shelf seas are also found in the 16‐year data set, which underlines an apparent change in polynya dynamics in the Eastern Arctic and, connected to that, changing Transpolar Drift characteristics (Krumpen et al, ).…”

Increased Transnational Sea Ice Transport Between Neighboring Arctic States in the 21st Century

“…Ice transport along long‐distance pathways are predicted to diminish in favor of ice exchange between neighboring EEZs by the end of the 21st century under the high emissions scenario, specifically shifting to the EEZs downstream of each EEZ of formation. This is the result of a projected lengthening of the melt season, which decreases average transit times to less than 1 yr for the CESM‐LE, continuing the trend recently reported by Krumpen et al () and Newton et al (). In fact, the CESM‐LE shows a decrease in the fraction of transnational ice exchange between the periods of 2031–2050 and 2081–2100, whereas the CESM‐LW continues to see an increase.…”

Microplastics in sea ice and seawater beneath ice floes from the Arctic Ocean

“…Mobile sea ice floes in the Arctic Ocean are capable of entrapping contaminants along their drift pathways and playing a role in the redistribution of contaminants due to their eventual release upon melting of the ice 2,16,19 . Estimating backward sea ice trajectories is an important tool that facilitates an examination of sea ice sources, drift pathways, thickness changes and atmospheric processes acting on the ice cover 2,[28][29][30] . When utilized in microplastic studies, backward sea ice trajectory data (i.e.…”