Phytoplankton distribution in the Western Arctic Ocean during a summer of exceptional ice retreat

Abstract. A drastic ice decline in the Arctic Ocean, triggered by global warming, could generate rapid changes in the upper ocean layers. The ice retreat is particularly intense over the Canadian Basin where large ice free areas were observed since 2007. The CHINARE 2008 expedition was conducted in the Western Arctic (WA) ocean during a year of exceptional ice retreat (August–September 2008). This study investigates whether a significant reorganization of the primary producers in terms of species, biomass and productivity has to be observed in the WA as a result of the intense ice melting. Both pigments (HPLC) and taxonomy (microscopy) acquired in 2008 allowed to determine the phytoplanktonic distribution from Bering Strait (65° N) to extreme high latitudes over the Alpha Ridge (86° N) encompassing the Chukchi shelf, the Chukchi Borderland and the Canadian Basin.

Two different types of phytoplankton communities were observed. Over the ice-free Chukchi shelf, relatively high chl-a concentrations (1–5 mg m⁻³) dominated by 80 % of diatoms. In the Canadian Basin, surface waters are oligotrophic (<0.1 mg m⁻³) and algal assemblages were dominated by haptophytes and diatoms while higher biomasses (~0.4 mg m⁻³) related to a deep Subsurface Chlorophyll Maximum (SCM) are associated to small-sized (nano and pico) phytoplankton. The ice melting onset allows to point out three different zones over the open basin: (i) the ice free condition characterized by deep and unproductive phytoplankton communities dominated by nanoplankton, (ii) an extended (78°–83° N) Active Melting Zone (AMZ) where light penetration associated to the stratification start off and enough nutrient availability drives to the highest biomass and primary production due to both diatoms and large flagellates, (iii) heavy ice conditions found north to 83° N allowing light limitation and consequently low biomass and primary production associated to pico and nanoplankton.

To explain the poverty (Canadian Basin) and the richness (Chukchi shelf) of the WA, we explore the role of the nutrient-rich Pacific Waters, the bathymetry and two characteristics linked to the intense ice retreat: the stratification and the Surface Freshwater Layer (SFL). The freshwater accumulation induced a strong stratification limiting the nutrient input from the subsurface Pacific waters. This results in a biomass impoverishment of the well-lit layer and compels the phytoplankton to grow in subsurface.

The phytoplankton distribution in the Chukchi Borderland and north Canadian Basin, during the summer of exceptional ice retreat (2008), suggested when compared to in-situ data from a more ice covered year (1994), recent changes with a decrease of the phytoplankton abundance while averaged biomass was similar. The 2008 obtained phytoplankton data in the WA provided a state of the ecosystem which will be useful to determine both past and future changes in relation with predicted sea ice decline.