Updated 2001-04-19
Biological materials obtained in the central Arctic Ocean at the FSU “North Pole stations” in 1975-1981 have shown that the multi-year ice and ice/water interface is of rich and diverse biotop inhabited by the large number of diatoms and invertebrate animals. Two main matter fluxes in the sea ice ecosystem may be distinguished: (1) the inflow of biogenous elements from water into the ice interior where they are assimilated by the microflora during photosynthesis (summer stage), and (2) the outflow – from ice to water - of the organic matter accumulated in the summer due to photosynthesis (winter stage). Accumulation of organic matter within the sea ice interior during the process of photosynthesis may be considered as an energy depot for organisms of the whole trophic network of the arctic sea ice ecosystem.
Recent data from the SHEBA Ice Camp drifted within the Beaufort Gyre 1997-1998 have shown that: (1) sea ice diatoms are very scarce by species and numbers; (2) fresh water green algae are dominated by numbers and distributed within the whole sea ice thickness; (3) invertebrate animals within the sea ice interior are not indicated; (4) invertebrate animals from the ice/water interface are scarce by species and numbers; (5) concentrations of chlorophyll and nutrients in the sea ice are significantly lower of the average concentrations measured before in this region for the same period of time. Remarkable accumulation of the organic mater within the sea ice interior were not indicated.
This is a National Implementation Plan (NIP) project
Time frame
- Status
- Ongoing
- Project time span
- 1999 - 2001
- Data collection
- 1999 - 2001
- Data processing
- 1997 - 2005
- Data reporting
- 1975 - 2001
Data availability
- Are data archived or planned to be archived at an AMAP Thematic Data Centre?
- no
- If no (or only part of data are reported to a TDC), where and how are (other) data stored?
- Excel format
- References to key publications (or planned publications) and data reports
- Melnikov I.A. 2000. The Arctic Sea Ice Ecosystems and Global Warming. In: Huntington, H.P. (ed.). Impacts of Changes in Sea Ice and Other Environmental Parameters in the Arctic. Report of the Marine Mammal Commission Workshop, 15-17 February 2000, Girdwood, Alaska, p.72-82.
Melnikov, I.A. 1995. An in situ experimental study of young sea ice formation on Antarctic lead. J. Geophys. Res., 100(C3), 4673-4680.
Menshenina, L.L. and I.A. Melnikov. 1995. Under-ice zooplankton of the western Weddell Sea. Proc. NIRP Symp. Polar Biol., 8: 126-138.
Melnikov, I.A. and V.N. Spiridonov. 1996. Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba Dana (Crustacea Euphausiacea) under perennial sea ice in the western Weddell Sea. Antarctic Science, 8(4), 323-329.
Melnikov I.A.1998. Winter production of sea ice algae in the western Weddell Sea. J. оf Mar. Systems, 17, 195-205.
I.A. Melnikov, L.G. Kolosova, H.E. Welch and L.S. Zhitina. 2000. Sea ice biological communities and nutrient dynamics in the Canadian Basin of the Arctic Ocean. Deep-Sea Research Part II (in press).
Melnikov I., L. Zhitina, E. Kolosova. 2000. Arctic Sea Ice Biological Signal of Global Warming. Proceedings of the NIPR Symposium on Polar Biology. V. 13 (in press).
- Samples/specimens archived in specimen banks?
- Yes
Methods & Procedures
Not specified
Additional Information
- Is this a bi- AND multi-lateral project (i.e. a project involving cooperation between different countries)?
- Yes
- Other institutes involved in the project
Moscow State University, Arctic Antarctic Institution, Botanical and Zoological Institutes (S.-Peterburg
- Is this project reporting to other organizations/programmes?
SBI NSF
SHEBA NSF
Well-known that the sea ice is influenced by a number of physical factors which show large-scale spatial and long-temporal variability. Observed changes in the species composition and dynamic of the arctic sea ice ecosystem may be explained by the growing melting of the sea ice cover during the last decade. We consider several factors and the main of them are: (1) drainage of fresh water throughout sea ice interior; (2) accumulation of fresh water beneath the ice; (3) formation of sharp pycnocline at around 30 m. It is our guess that the recent water/ice system above pycnocline is more a fresh water/brackish system than the real marine system. We suggest that dramatically changes within the sea ice environment can be considered as a result of global warming in the Arctic.