Geography

Title

Changes at the edge: Trends in sea ice, ocean temperature and ocean color at the Northwest Atlantic/Southern Arctic interface

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Spatial and temporal trends of remotely sensed sea-ice cover, sea surface temperatures, chlorophyll-a concentration 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-a and 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. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Cambridge University Press.

Publication Title

Annals of Glaciology

Publication Date

2020

Volume

61

Issue

83

First Page

426

Last Page

440

ISSN

0260-3055

DOI

10.1017/aog.2020.66

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS