Back to Search Start Over

Disentangling the coupling between sea ice and tundra productivity in Svalbard.

Authors :
Macias-Fauria M
Karlsen SR
Forbes BC
Source :
Scientific reports [Sci Rep] 2017 Aug 17; Vol. 7 (1), pp. 8586. Date of Electronic Publication: 2017 Aug 17.
Publication Year :
2017

Abstract

The rapid decline in Arctic sea ice poses urgent questions concerning its ecological effects, such as on tundra terrestrial productivity. However, reported sea ice/terrestrial productivity linkages have seldom been constrained, and the mechanism governing them remains elusive, with a diversity of spatial scales and metrics proposed, at times in contradiction to each other. In this study, we use spatially explicit remotely sensed sea ice concentration and high-resolution terrestrial productivity estimates (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI) across the Svalbard Archipelago to describe local/sub-regional and large-scale components of sea ice/terrestrial productivity coupling. Whereas the local/sub-regional component is attributed to sea breeze (cold air advection from ice-covered ocean onto adjacent land during the growing season), the large-scale component might reflect co-variability of sea ice and tundra productivity due to a common forcing, such as large-scale atmospheric circulation (North Atlantic Oscillation, NAO). Our study clarifies the range of mechanisms in sea ice/terrestrial productivity coupling, allowing the generation of testable hypotheses about its past, present, and future dynamics across the Arctic.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2045-2322
Volume :
7
Issue :
1
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Scientific reports
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
28819173
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-06218-8