Description: As consequences of global warming sea-ice shrinking, permafrost thawing and changes in fresh water and terrestrial material export have already been reported in the Arctic environment. These processes impact light penetration and primary production. To reach a better understanding of the current status and to provide accurate forecasts Arctic biogeochemical and physical parameters need to be extensively monitored. In this sense, bio-optical properties are useful to be measured due to the applicability of optical instrumentation to autonomous platforms, including satellites. This study characterizes the non-water absorbers and their coupling to hydrographic conditions in the poorly sampled surface waters of the central and eastern Arctic Ocean. Over the entire sampled area colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) dominates the light absorption in surface waters. The distribution of CDOM, phytoplankton and non-algal particles absorption reproduces the hydrographic variability in this region of the Arctic Ocean which suggests a subdivision into five major bio-optical provinces: Laptev Sea Shelf, Laptev Sea, Central Arctic/Transpolar Drift, Beaufort Gyre and Eurasian/Nansen Basin. Evaluating ocean color algorithms commonly applied in the Arctic Ocean shows that global and regionally tuned empirical algorithms provide poor chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) estimates. The semi-analytical algorithms Generalized Inherent Optical Property model (GIOP) and Garver-Siegel-Maritorena (GSM), on the other hand, provide robust estimates of Chl-a and absorption of colored matter. Applying GSM with modifications proposed for the western Arctic Ocean produced reliable information on the absorption by colored matter, and specifically by CDOM. These findings highlight that only semi-analytical ocean color algorithms are able to identify with low uncertainty the distribution of the different optical water constituents in these high CDOM absorbing waters. In addition, a clustering of the Arctic Ocean into bio-optical provinces will help to develop and then select province-specific ocean color algorithms. © 2018 Gonçalves-Araujo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Description: We assessed the qualitative composition of fluorescent dissolved organic matter (FDOM) in Arctic Ocean surface water and in sea ice north of the Svalbard Archipelago (in the Sophia Basin, the Yermak Plateau and the north Spitsbergen shelf) in May and June 2015, during the “TRANSSIZ” expedition (Transitions in the Arctic Seasonal Sea Ice Zone). Samples collected in open lead waters (OW), under-ice waters (UIW) and from the sea ice (ICE) were analyzed by fluorescence spectroscopy and subsequently by multivariate statistical methods using Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC). Statistical analyses of all measured DOM fluorescence excitation and emission matrices (EEMs) enabled four components to be identified and validated. The spectral characteristics of the first component C1 (λEx/λEm 282(270)/335) corresponded to those of tryptophan. The spectral properties of the other three components corresponded to those of humic-like substances: components two (C2 − λEx/λEm 315(252)/395) and three (C3 − λEx/λEm 357(258)/446) corresponded to humic-like substances of marine origin, whereas component four (C4 − λEx/λEm 261(399)/492) resembled terrestrial humic-like substances. Changes in FDOM composition were recorded in OW, in contrast to UIW and sea ice. In the OW the sum of fluorescence intensities of humic-like components (C2, C3 and C4) was two times higher than the fluorescence intensity of protein-like component (C1). Component C2 exhibited the highest fluorescence intensity. In the UIW and particularly in the sea ice the fluorescence intensity of the protein-like component, IC1, was the highest. The IC1 in the sea ice increased toward the sea ice bottom, reaching maximum values at the sea ice-water interface. The calculated spectral indices (SUVA(254) and HIX) and ratios of fluorescence intensities of protein-like to humic-like components, Ip/Ih, suggested that FDOM in water and sea ice was predominantly autochthonous, characterized by low molecular weight organic compounds and low aromatic ring saturation. Enrichment factors Dc, calculated from salinity-normalized values of the optical DOM properties and dissolved organic carbon concentrations, indicated the significant fractionation of FDOM in the sea ice relative to the parent open waters. The humic-like terrestrial component C4 was enriched the least, whereas the protein-like component C1 was enriched the most. A statistically significant (p 〈 0.0001) and relatively strong (R = 63) correlation between IC1 and the total chlorophyll a concentration Tchla was found in the sea ice, which suggests that sympagic algal communities were producers of the protein-like FDOM fraction.

Description: During two consecutive cruises to the Eastern Central Arctic in late summer 2012, we observed floating algal aggregates in the melt-water layer below and between melting ice floes of first-year pack ice. The macroscopic (1 – 15 cm in diameter) aggregates had a mucous consistency and were dominated by typical ice-associated pennate diatoms embedded within the mucous matrix. Aggregates maintained buoyancy and accumulated just above a strong pycnocline that separated meltwater and seawater layers. We were able, for the first time, to obtain quantitative abundance and biomass estimates of these aggregates. Although their biomass and production on a square metre basis was small compared to ice-algal blooms, the floating ice-algal aggregates supported high levels of biological activity on the scale of the individual aggregate. In addition they constituted a food source for the ice-associated fauna as revealed by pigments indicative of zooplankton grazing, high abundance of naked ciliates, and ice amphipods associated with them. During the Arctic melt season, these floating aggregates likely play an important ecological role in an otherwise impoverished near-surface sea ice environment. Our findings provide important observations and measurements of a unique aggregate-based habitat during the 2012 record sea ice minimum year.

Description: Sea-ice diatoms are known to accumulate in large aggregates in and under sea ice and in melt ponds. There is recent evidence from the Arctic that such aggregates can contribute substantially to particle export when sinking from the ice. The role and regulation of microbial aggregation in the highly seasonal, nutrient- and light-limited Arctic sea-ice ecosystem is not well understood. To elucidate the mechanisms controlling the formation and export of algal aggregates from sea ice, we investigated samples taken in late summer 2011 and 2012, during two cruises to the Eurasian Basin of the Central Arctic Ocean. Spherical aggregates densely packed with pennate diatoms, as well as filamentous aggregates formed by Melosira arctica showed sign of different stages of degradation and physiological stoichiometries, with carbon to chlorophyll a ratios ranging from 110 to 66700, and carbon to nitrogen molar ratios of 8–35 and 9–40, respectively. Sub-ice algal aggregate densities ranged between 1 and 17 aggregates m−2, maintaining an estimated net primary production of 0.4–40 mg C m−2 d−1, and accounted for 3–80% of total phototrophic biomass and up to 94% of local net primary production. A potential factor controlling the buoyancy of the aggregates was light intensity, regulating photosynthetic oxygen production and the amount of gas bubbles trapped within the mucous matrix, even at low ambient nutrient concentrations. Our data-set was used to evaluate the distribution and importance of Arctic algal aggregates as carbon source for pelagic and benthic communities.

Description: Understanding and responding to the rapidly occurring environmental changes in the Arctic over the past few decades require new approaches in science. This includes improved collaborations within the scientific community but also enhanced dialogue between scientists and societal stakeholders, especially with Arctic communities. As a contribution to the Third International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARPIII), the Arctic in Rapid Transition (ART) network held an international workshop in France, in October 2014, in order to discuss high-priority requirements for future Arctic marine and coastal research from an early-career scientists (ECS) perspective. The discussion encompassed a variety of research fields, including topics of oceanographic conditions, sea-ice monitoring, marine biodiversity, land-ocean interactions, and geological reconstructions, as well as law and governance issues. Participants of the workshop strongly agreed on the need to enhance interdisciplinarity in order to collect comprehensive knowledge about the modern and past Arctic Ocean's geo-ecological dynamics. Such knowledge enables improved predictions of Arctic developments and provides the basis for elaborate decision-making on future actions under plausible environmental and climate scenarios in the high northern latitudes. Priority research sheets resulting from the workshop's discussions were distributed during the ICARPIII meetings in April 2015 in Japan, and are publicly available online.