Chukchi Sea Ice Conditions for the Last Few Centuries: Reconstruction from Sedimentation Records

Abstract

For the first time, the reconstruction of variations in the duration over several hundred years was conducted on the basis of models developed by comparing hydrometeorological observations and detailed scanning of the chemical composition of bottom sediments accumulated during the corresponding period. The gauge models for the reconstruction of air temperature and ice cover of the water area for three sites in the northern part of the Chukchi Sea have been developed. During the reconstruction, an insignificant increase in the duration of the ice-free period during the Little Ice Age was established, which does not coincide with the changes in the temperature regime that took place. It is concluded that the dynamics of the inflow of warm Pacific waters through the Bering Strait had the predominant influence on the ice regime of the Chukchi Sea.