Retreating Arctic sea ice is expected to change the way the ocean interacts with the atmosphere, which will affect the Arctic ecosystems.

APEAR will help to understand how the sea ice decline and the longer summer season will change the pathways of nutrients which enter the Arctic Ocean from the Atlantic and Pacific.

Another goal is to examine how the differences between parts of the Arctic ecosystem may change. We will combine in situ measurements from MOSAiC fieldwork with ultra-high-resolution computer modelling to quantify current and future changes in the Arctic ecosystems.

Website: https://www.changing-arctic-ocean.ac.uk/project/apear

Twitter: @CAO_APEAR

NOC PI: Dr Yevgeny Aksenov, NOC
Email: yka at noc.ac.uk

PI: Dr Benjamin Rabe, Alfred Wegener Institute

Dates
–
Funding

NERC – Strategic Research; German Federal Ministry of Education and Research

Aim

As Arctic sea ice retreats, exchange of Atlantic and Pacific waters across the Lomonosov Ridge is modified due to changes in the air-ice-ocean momentum fluxes. The ocean circulation systems in the Eurasian and Amerasian Arctic may become less coupled, leading to differing pathways of nutrients advected with water masses originating in the Atlantic and Pacific. Whereas the regional differences in the ocean and ecosystems may increase, the prolonged sea ice-free season can moderate the difference between the two provinces in the Arctic through stronger haline convection and through mixing by wind and waves.