Drivers of Ice Algal Bloom Variability Between 1980 and 2015 in the Chukchi Sea

Selz, Virginia; Saenz, Benjamin; Dijken, Gert L. van; Arrigo, Kevin R.

doi:10.1029/2018jc014123

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…20 m, restricting the vertical input of nutrients to the upper part of the water column. Our results also indicate that the upwelling conditions which led to the formation of a massive under-ice bloom in the Chukchi Sea (Arrigo et al, 2012;Cooper et al, 2016;Selz et al, 2018) were not present across the BS transect during our study. The dominance of the phytoplankton assemblage by pennate diatoms in the Barrow Strait region (BS transect station 305E as well as stations 304 and 305; see Fig.…”

Section: The Fyi Edge In Barrow Strait and The Adjacent Lancaster Soundsupporting

confidence: 55%

“…The seasonal sea ice zone (SIZ) in the Arctic is modulated by large interannual variability (Parkinson and Comiso, 2013;Simmonds, 2015;Comiso et al, 2017;Serreze and Meier, 2019). Correspondingly, the position of the ice edge in the Barrow Strait and Lancaster Sound area during spring may vary yearly from the mouth of the sound to the east (80 • W) to Lowther Island in Barrow Strait to the west (97 • W) as revealed by the analysis of CIS ice charts by Peterson et al (2008).…”

Section: The Fyi Edge In Barrow Strait and The Adjacent Lancaster Soundmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Phytoplankton and dimethylsulfide dynamics at two contrasting Arctic ice edges

et al. 2020

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Abstract. Arctic sea ice is retreating and thinning and its rate of decline has steepened in the last decades. While phytoplankton blooms are known to seasonally propagate along the ice edge as it recedes from spring to summer, the substitution of thick multiyear ice (MYI) with thinner, ponded first-year ice (FYI) represents an unequal exchange when considering the roles sea ice plays in the ecology and climate of the Arctic. Consequences of this shifting sea ice on the phenology of phytoplankton and the associated cycling of the climate-relevant gas dimethylsulfide (DMS) and its precursor dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) remain ill constrained. In July–August 2014, two contrasting ice edges in the Canadian High Arctic were explored: a FYI-dominated ice edge in Barrow Strait and a MYI-dominated ice edge in Nares Strait. Our results reveal two distinct planktonic systems and associated DMS dynamics in connection to these diverging ice types. The surface waters exiting the ponded FYI in Barrow Strait were characterized by moderate chlorophyll a (Chl a, <2.1 µg L−1) as well as high DMSP (115 nmol L−1) and DMS (12 nmol L−1), suggesting that a bloom had already started to develop under the markedly melt-pond-covered (ca. 40 %) FYI. Heightened DMS concentrations at the FYI edge were strongly related to ice-associated seeding of DMS in surface waters and haline-driven stratification linked to ice melt (Spearman's rank correlation between DMS and salinity, rs=-0.91, p<0.001, n=20). However, surface waters exiting the MYI edge at the head of Nares Strait were characterized by low concentrations of Chl a (<0.5 µg L−1), DMSP (<16 nmol L−1), and DMS (<0.4 nmol L−1), despite the nutrient-replete conditions characterizing the surface waters. The increase in autotrophic biomass and methylated sulfur compounds took place several kilometers (ca. 100 km) away from the MYI edge, suggesting the requisite for ice-free, light-sufficient conditions for a phytoplankton bloom to fully develop and for sulfur compound dynamics to follow and expand. In light of the ongoing and projected climate-driven changes to Arctic sea ice, results from this study suggest that the early onset of autotrophic blooms under thinner, melt-pond-covered ice may have vast implications for the timing and magnitude of DMS pulses in the Arctic.

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Section: The Fyi Edge In Barrow Strait and The Adjacent Lancaster Soundsupporting

confidence: 55%

Section: The Fyi Edge In Barrow Strait and The Adjacent Lancaster Soundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phytoplankton and dimethylsulfide dynamics at two contrasting Arctic ice edges

et al. 2020

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show abstract

“…20 m, restricting the vertical input of nutrients to the upper part of the water 380 column. Our results also indicate that the upwelling conditions which led to the formation of a massive under-ice bloom in Chukchi Sea(Arrigo et al 2012;Cooper et al 2016;Selz et al 2018) were not present across the BS transect during our study. The dominance of the phytoplankton assemblage by pennate diatoms in the Barrow Strait region (BS transect station 305E as well as stations 304 and 305, seeFig.…”

supporting

confidence: 57%

Phytoplankton and dimethylsulfide dynamics at two contrasting Arctic ice edges

Lizotte¹,

Levasseur²,

Galindo³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Arctic sea ice is retreating, thinning and its rate of decline has steepened in the last decades. While phytoplankton 15 blooms are known to seasonally propagate along the ice edge as it recedes from spring to summer, the substitution of thick multi-year ice (MYI) with thinner, ponded first-year ice (FYI) represents an unequal exchange when considering the roles sea ice plays in the ecology and climate of the Arctic. Consequences of this shifting sea ice on the phenology of phytoplankton and the associated cycling of the climate-relevant gas dimethylsulfide (DMS) and its precursor dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) remain ill constrained. In July-August 2014, two contrasting ice edges in the Canadian High Arctic were explored: 20 a FYI-dominated ice edge in Barrow Strait and a MYI-dominated ice edge in Nares Strait. Our results reveal two distinct planktonic systems and associated DMS dynamics in connection to these diverging ice types. The surface waters exiting the ponded FYI in Barrow Strait were characterized by moderate chlorophyll a (Chl a, < 2.1 µg L -1 ) as well as high DMSP (115 nmol L -1 ) and DMS (12 nmol L -1 ) suggesting that a bloom had already started to develop under the markedly melt pondcovered (ca. 40%) FYI. Heightened DMS concentrations at the FYI edge were strongly related with ice-associated seeding 25 of DMS in surface waters and haline-driven stratification linked to ice melt (Spearman's rank correlation between DMS and salinity, rs = -0.91, p < 0.001, n = 20). However, surface waters exiting the MYI edge at the head of Nares Strait were characterized by low concentrations of Chl a (< 0.5 µg L -1 ), DMSP (< 16 nmol L -1 ) and DMS (< 0.4 nmol L -1 ), despite the nutrient-replete conditions characterizing the surface waters. The increase in autotrophic biomass and methylated sulfur compounds took place several km (ca. 100 km) away from the MYI ice edge suggesting the requisite for ice-free, light-30 sufficient conditions for a phytoplankton bloom to fully develop and for sulfur compound dynamics to follow and expand.In light of the ongoing and projected climate-driven changes to Arctic sea ice, results from this study suggest that the early onset of autotrophic blooms under thinner, melt pond-covered ice may have vast implications for the timing and magnitude of DMS pulses in the Arctic.

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“…The concurrent increase in phytoplankton [TChla w ] in surface water at that specific time may have resulted from this release of ice algae. The possible seeding of the phytoplankton spring bloom by ice algae (e.g., Olsen et al, 2017;van Leeuwe et al, 2018;Selz et al, 2018) is beyond the scope of the present paper (but see Grondin, 2019). Freshwater from snow and ice melt started to accumulate at the ocean surface by the end of the period, and was subsequently warmed by solar radiation.…”

Section: Bloom Dynamics: From Environmental Conditions To Algal Biomassmentioning

confidence: 94%

Environmental factors influencing the seasonal dynamics of spring algal blooms in and beneath sea ice in western Baffin Bay

Oziel

Massicotte

Randelhoff

et al. 2019

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

106

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Arctic sea ice is experiencing a shorter growth season and an earlier ice melt onset. The significance of spring microalgal blooms taking place prior to sea ice breakup is the subject of ongoing scientific debate. During the Green Edge project, unique time-series data were collected during two field campaigns held in spring 2015 and 2016, which documented for the first time the concomitant temporal evolution of the sea ice algal and phytoplankton blooms in and beneath the landfast sea ice in western Baffin Bay. Sea ice algal and phytoplankton blooms were negatively correlated and respectively reached 26 (6) and 152 (182) mg of chlorophyll a per m 2 in 2015 (2016). Here, we describe and compare the seasonal evolutions of a wide variety of physical forcings, particularly key components of the atmosphere-snow-ice-ocean system, that influenced microalgal growth during both years. Ice algal growth was observed under low-light conditions before the snow melt period and was much higher in 2015 due to less snowfall. By increasing light availability and water column stratification, the snow melt onset marked the initiation of the phytoplankton bloom and, concomitantly, the termination of the ice algal bloom. This study therefore underlines the major role of snow on the seasonal dynamics of microalgae in western Baffin Bay. The under-ice water column was dominated by Arctic Waters. Just before the sea ice broke up, phytoplankton had consumed most of the nutrients in the surface layer. A subsurface chlorophyll maximum appeared and deepened, favored by spring tide-induced mixing, reaching the best compromise between light and nutrient availability. This deepening evidenced the importance of upper ocean tidal dynamics for shaping vertical development of the under-ice phytoplankton bloom, a major biological event along the western coast of Baffin Bay, which reached similar magnitude to the offshore ice-edge bloom.

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Drivers of Ice Algal Bloom Variability Between 1980 and 2015 in the Chukchi Sea

Cited by 15 publications

References 58 publications

Phytoplankton and dimethylsulfide dynamics at two contrasting Arctic ice edges

Phytoplankton and dimethylsulfide dynamics at two contrasting Arctic ice edges

Phytoplankton and dimethylsulfide dynamics at two contrasting Arctic ice edges

Environmental factors influencing the seasonal dynamics of spring algal blooms in and beneath sea ice in western Baffin Bay

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