3
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
P. S. Goel et al. (eds.), Climate Change and the White World,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21679-5_1
Emerging Traits of Sea Ice in the Atlantic
Sector of the Arctic
Mats A. Granskog, Philipp Assmy, and Nalan Koç
Abstract Recent observations in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic reveal a sea-ice
scape that functions quite differently than earlier assumed. It is also in a state where
it responds more quickly to external forcing. Significant thinning of sea ice in this
region has resulted in emergence of new features of the ice pack, that in many
instances resemble the seasonal ice pack in the Southern Ocean. Thus in some sense
an “antarctification” of the sea ice in the Arctic has occurred. This is a consequence
of a thinner sea ice cover and a heavy enough snow load that now results in features,
such as flooding- the phenomenon not thought to widely occur in the Arctic before.
In addition to this, the thinner ice pack is more dynamic resulting in more deformation of the ice pack. These emerging physical properties of the new icescape also
impact the functioning of the ice-associated ecosystem.
Keywords Arctic · Sea ice · Snow · Storms · Ecosystem
1 Introduction
Rapid changes in Arctic sea ice have occurred in the last decade(s). Sea ice extent
has declined, not only in summer, but has also has been noted in winter too (Meier
et al. 2014). At the same time, sea ice thickness has decreased substantially. It has
nearly halved from about 3 m a few decades ago (Hansen et al. 2013; Lindsay and
Schweiger 2015). The Arctic sea ice pack has changed from being dominated by
thicker older multi-year ice (MYI) by being predominantly composed of younger
and thinner first-year (thus seasonal) sea ice (FYI) (Maslanik et al. 2011). Thus a
larger portion of the ice pack will melt away in summer, increasing areas of open
water in the Arctic.
M. A. Granskog (*) · P. Assmy · N. Koç
Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, Tromsø, Norway
e-mail: mats.granskog@npolar.no
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
P. S. Goel et al. (eds.), Climate Change and the White World,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21679-5_1
Emerging Traits of Sea Ice in the Atlantic
Sector of the Arctic
Mats A. Granskog, Philipp Assmy, and Nalan Koç
Abstract Recent observations in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic reveal a sea-ice
scape that functions quite differently than earlier assumed. It is also in a state where
it responds more quickly to external forcing. Significant thinning of sea ice in this
region has resulted in emergence of new features of the ice pack, that in many
instances resemble the seasonal ice pack in the Southern Ocean. Thus in some sense
an “antarctification” of the sea ice in the Arctic has occurred. This is a consequence
of a thinner sea ice cover and a heavy enough snow load that now results in features,
such as flooding- the phenomenon not thought to widely occur in the Arctic before.
In addition to this, the thinner ice pack is more dynamic resulting in more deformation of the ice pack. These emerging physical properties of the new icescape also
impact the functioning of the ice-associated ecosystem.
Keywords Arctic · Sea ice · Snow · Storms · Ecosystem
1 Introduction
Rapid changes in Arctic sea ice have occurred in the last decade(s). Sea ice extent
has declined, not only in summer, but has also has been noted in winter too (Meier
et al. 2014). At the same time, sea ice thickness has decreased substantially. It has
nearly halved from about 3 m a few decades ago (Hansen et al. 2013; Lindsay and
Schweiger 2015). The Arctic sea ice pack has changed from being dominated by
thicker older multi-year ice (MYI) by being predominantly composed of younger
and thinner first-year (thus seasonal) sea ice (FYI) (Maslanik et al. 2011). Thus a
larger portion of the ice pack will melt away in summer, increasing areas of open
water in the Arctic.
M. A. Granskog (*) · P. Assmy · N. Koç
Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, Tromsø, Norway
e-mail: mats.granskog@npolar.no