|Findings from 2012 Arctic ice retreat revealed|
|Friday, 09 November 2012 14:11|
After an extensive two-month expedition dubbed "IceArc" to the central Arctic, the PFS 'Polarstern' returned to Bremerhaven in October. 54 scientists and technicians from twelve different countries conducted research on the retreat of the sea ice and the consequences for the Arctic Ocean and its ecosystems in the high north.
Ice thickness measurements
Many measurements were concerned with responses to the rapid retreat of the sea ice this summer. The researchers determined that the thick multiyear sea ice in the area of investigation had declined further. With the so-called EM-Bird (electromagnetic sensor to record the thickness of sea ice), an area of 3,500 kilometres of sea ice was measured from a helicopter.
From as early as July 2012, the Siberian shelves including the Laptev Sea were free from ice, whereas in the summer of 2011 Polarstern had still encountered multiyear ice in this region. The fresh water content of the sea surface has increased accordingly as a result of this melting ice.
With a new type of under-ice trawl, the researchers headed by Dr Hauke Flores from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association were able to conduct large-scale investigations of the communities living directly on the lower side of the Arctic pack ice for the first time.
According to a statement, the researchers "had a polar cod in their net almost every time." This species is particularly adapted to life below the ice. The sea ice physicists from the Alfred Wegener Institute also used an under-ice robot to record the light incidence and distribution of algae on the lower side of the ice.
According to the findings of the returning polar researchers, the rapid changes in the Arctic were not therefore restricted to the sea surface. Atlantic water flowing into the Arctic at a depth of several hundreds of metres had an elevated temperature and salinity which could be measured down to a depth of several thousands of metres in the Arctic Basins. Images and measurements of the bottom of the sea showed for the first time that the deep sea of the central Arctic is not a desert, but that frequently accumulations of sea cucumbers, sponges, feather stars and sea anemones gather to feed on the sea algae.
The warm temperatures, the retreat of the ice and the greater light availability beneath the ice causes the seasonality of the central Arctic to shift. The production and the export of algae is taking place earlier compared with previous years, as the results of annually anchored sediment traps show.
As a result of the extremely thin ice cover, the 'Polarstern' was able to navigate far into the North later in the year than usual. The sea ice physicists were therefore able to collect important data at the start of the freezing period. The measurements on the new thin ice are important, because this sea ice will occur more frequently in the future.
Source: Hydro International
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