The distribution and abundance of planktonic foraminifera under summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean

Vermassen, Flor; Bird, Clare; Weitkamp, Tirza M.; Darling, Kate F.; Farnelid, Hanna; Heuzé, Céline; Hsiang, Allison Y.; Karam, Salar; Stranne, Christian; Sundbom, Marcus; Coxall, Helen K.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2261-2025

Articles | Volume 22, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2261-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2261-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 9

Research article

|

14 May 2025

Research article |

| 14 May 2025

The distribution and abundance of planktonic foraminifera under summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean

Flor Vermassen, Clare Bird, Tirza M. Weitkamp, Kate F. Darling, Hanna Farnelid, Céline Heuzé, Allison Y. Hsiang, Salar Karam, Christian Stranne, Marcus Sundbom, and Helen K. Coxall

Data sets

Planktonic foraminifera data from expedition SAS, Arctic Ocean, 2021 F. Vermassen et al. https://doi.org/10.17043/oden-sas-2021-foraminifera-1

Planktonic foraminifera data from the Ryder 2019 expedition F. Vermassen et al. https://doi.org/10.17043/oden-ryder-2019-foraminifera-1

Physical Oceanography during ODEN expedition SO21 for the Synoptic Arctic Survey C. Heuzé et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.951266

Discrete profile measurements of carbon dioxide, hydrographic and chemical data during the R/V Oden SAS-Oden 2021 (SO21) cruise (EXPOCODE 77DN20210725) in the Arctic Ocean from 2021-07-25 to 2021-09-20 A. Ulfsbo et al. https://doi.org/10.25921/eaf4-9658

Oceanographic CTD data from the Ryder 2019 expedition C. Stranne et al. https://doi.org/10.17043/oden-ryder-2019-ctd-1

Short summary

We provide the first systematic survey of planktonic foraminifera in the high Arctic Ocean. Our results describe the abundance and species composition under summer sea ice. They indicate that the polar specialist N. pachyderma is the only species present, with subpolar species absent. The data set will be a valuable reference for continued monitoring of the state of planktonic foraminifera communities as they respond to the ongoing sea-ice decline and the “Atlantification” of the Arctic Ocean.