Abstract
AbstractSpatial and temporal trends of remotely sensed sea-ice cover, sea surface temperatures, chlorophyll-aconcentration and primary production in the Baffin Bay, Davis Strait and Labrador Sea were analyzed for the 1998–2017 period. We found spatial variability in the trends of these cryospheric, biologic and oceanographic phenomena. For example, in the northern Baffin Bay, we observed decreases in annual sea-ice persistence, yet increases along the Labrador Sea-ice edge during winter, with the latter having significant correlations with broader atmospheric patterns. In general, we observed increases in summer sea surface temperatures across the study region, except a small area of cooling along the southern Greenlandic coast. We also found significant negative trends in April chlorophyll-aand primary production followed by significant positive trends for both biological phenomena in May, owing to anomalously high values in 2014 and 2015. Notably, we found a significant positive correlation between days of monthly sea ice presence in April with May primary production quantities. Finally, we found a significant positive trend in total annual primary production over the study period. This novel finding suggests an important relationship between the timing of breakup along the sea-ice edge and peaks in biological production.
Highlights
Sea ice, atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns in the Arctic have a complex, coupled relationship that manifests across multiple spatial and temporal scales
We focus on the Baffin Bay, Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea region located between the northeast coast of Canada and the west coast of Greenland spanning the Northwest Atlantic Ocean and Southern Arctic Ocean (Fig. 1), as it has shown dynamic oceanographic behavior in recent years (e.g., Heide-Jørgensen and others, 2007; Frey and others, 2018), related to the location of the southernmost winter sea-ice edge
In addition to our findings that indicated the occurrence of a secondary fall bloom, we found an apparent shift in the timing towards a later spring bloom, with negative trends of both chlorophyll-a and primary production in April, followed by positive trends in May
Summary
Atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns in the Arctic have a complex, coupled relationship that manifests across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Sea-ice cover in the Arctic has been declining in thickness, extent and seasonal duration since the late 1970s (e.g., Perovich and Richter-Menge, 2009; Stroeve and others, 2012) and the Arctic is expected to be sea-ice-free in summer by 2030 (Overland and Wang, 2013). Thicker spring clouds increase downward longwave radiation flux and accelerate sea-ice loss (Huang and others, 2019). This presents a positive-feedback relationship whereby cloud changes may be forced by the variability of sea ice (Francis and Hunter, 2006; Eastman and Warren, 2010). Across the broader Arctic, there has been a general increase in cloud cover during years with low ice owing to the opportunity for increased heat exchange between an open ocean surface with the atmosphere (Eastman and Warren, 2010)
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