FAMOS multi-model intercomparison of the pan-Arctic ice algal productivity on seasonal and decadal timescales
Abstract
Biogeochemical responses to the Arctic sea ice decline have become an important topic for a variety of communities. Ice algae are an important component of the Arctic marine ecosystem and carbon cycle. Generally, sea ice decline plays both positive and negative roles in ice algal biomass. For example, sea ice thinning enhances light penetration into the skeletal layer at the ice-ocean interface. On the other hand, reduction in net thermal ice growth restricts nutrient availability. Retreat of sea ice margin causes shrinking of ice algal habitat. Numerical modeling is a powerful tool to evaluate the impacts of sea ice decline on ice algal productivity on the pan-Arctic and decadal scales. In recent years, the modeling target region has been extended from landfast ice stations to the entire Arctic Ocean, and complex ice algal processes are now numerically formulated in various ways.
The present study addresses seasonal and decadal variations in ice algal productivity from 1980 to 2009, which were simulated by five pan-Arctic and global sea ice-ocean ecosystem models participating in the Forum for Arctic Modeling and Observational Synthesis (FAMOS) project. Relationships among ice algal productivity/biomass, sea ice concentration, snow depth, sea ice thickness, and nutrient contents in the sea ice column and the ocean surface layer averaged over four sub-regions (Chukchi Sea, Canada Basin, Eurasian Basin, and Barents Sea) are particularly focused on. The FAMOS models simulated reasonable seasonal cycles of the analyzed sea ice and ocean properties, whereas their amplitudes are partly different. The simulated ice algal biomass shows no common decadal trend probably because sea ice decline has both positive and negative impacts. More details with uncertainties will be reported.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFM.C33F1630W
- Keywords:
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- 0750 Sea ice;
- CRYOSPHEREDE: 0799 General or miscellaneous;
- CRYOSPHEREDE: 9315 Arctic region;
- GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONDE: 1621 Cryospheric change;
- GLOBAL CHANGE