A regime shift in the Southeast Greenland marine ecosystem
Abstract Two major oceanographic changes have recently propagated through several trophic levels in coastal areas of Southeast Greenland (SEG). Firstly, the amount of drift‐ice exported from the Fram Strait and transported with the East Greenland Current (EGC) has decreased significantly over the pa...
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crwiley:10.1111/gcb.16494 2024-10-06T13:48:18+00:00 A regime shift in the Southeast Greenland marine ecosystem Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter Chambault, Philippine Jansen, Teunis Gjelstrup, Caroline V. B. Rosing‐Asvid, Aqqalu Macrander, Andreas Víkingsson, Gísli Zhang, Xiangdong Andresen, Camilla S. MacKenzie, Brian R. 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16494 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.16494 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/gcb.16494 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Global Change Biology volume 29, issue 3, page 668-685 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 journal-article 2022 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16494 2024-09-17T04:50:05Z Abstract Two major oceanographic changes have recently propagated through several trophic levels in coastal areas of Southeast Greenland (SEG). Firstly, the amount of drift‐ice exported from the Fram Strait and transported with the East Greenland Current (EGC) has decreased significantly over the past two decades, and a main tipping element (summer sea ice) has virtually disappeared since 2003 leading to a regime shift in oceanographic and ecological conditions in the region. The following 20‐year period with low or no coastal sea ice is unique in the 200‐year history of ice observations in the region, and the regime shift is also obvious in the volume of ice export through the Fram Strait after 2013. In the same period, the temperature of the EGC south of 73.5 N has increased significantly (>2°C) since 1980. Secondly, the warm Irminger Current, which advects warm, saline Atlantic Water into the region, has become warmer since 1990. The lack of pack ice in summer together with a warming ocean generated cascading effects on the ecosystem in SEG that are manifested in a changed fish fauna with an influx of boreal species in the south and the subarctic capelin further north. At higher trophic levels there has been an increase in the abundance of several boreal cetaceans (humpback, fin, killer, and pilot whales and dolphins) that are either new to this area or occur in historically large numbers. It is estimated that the new cetacean species in SEG are responsible for an annual predation level of 700,000 tons of fish. In addition, predation on krill species is estimated at >1,500,000 tons mainly consumed by fin whales. Simultaneously, there has been a reduction in the abundance and catches of narwhals and walruses in SEG and it is suggested that these species have been impacted by the habitat changes. Article in Journal/Newspaper East Greenland east greenland current Fram Strait Greenland narwhal* Sea ice Subarctic walrus* Wiley Online Library Greenland Global Change Biology 29 3 668 685 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Two major oceanographic changes have recently propagated through several trophic levels in coastal areas of Southeast Greenland (SEG). Firstly, the amount of drift‐ice exported from the Fram Strait and transported with the East Greenland Current (EGC) has decreased significantly over the past two decades, and a main tipping element (summer sea ice) has virtually disappeared since 2003 leading to a regime shift in oceanographic and ecological conditions in the region. The following 20‐year period with low or no coastal sea ice is unique in the 200‐year history of ice observations in the region, and the regime shift is also obvious in the volume of ice export through the Fram Strait after 2013. In the same period, the temperature of the EGC south of 73.5 N has increased significantly (>2°C) since 1980. Secondly, the warm Irminger Current, which advects warm, saline Atlantic Water into the region, has become warmer since 1990. The lack of pack ice in summer together with a warming ocean generated cascading effects on the ecosystem in SEG that are manifested in a changed fish fauna with an influx of boreal species in the south and the subarctic capelin further north. At higher trophic levels there has been an increase in the abundance of several boreal cetaceans (humpback, fin, killer, and pilot whales and dolphins) that are either new to this area or occur in historically large numbers. It is estimated that the new cetacean species in SEG are responsible for an annual predation level of 700,000 tons of fish. In addition, predation on krill species is estimated at >1,500,000 tons mainly consumed by fin whales. Simultaneously, there has been a reduction in the abundance and catches of narwhals and walruses in SEG and it is suggested that these species have been impacted by the habitat changes. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter Chambault, Philippine Jansen, Teunis Gjelstrup, Caroline V. B. Rosing‐Asvid, Aqqalu Macrander, Andreas Víkingsson, Gísli Zhang, Xiangdong Andresen, Camilla S. MacKenzie, Brian R. |
spellingShingle |
Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter Chambault, Philippine Jansen, Teunis Gjelstrup, Caroline V. B. Rosing‐Asvid, Aqqalu Macrander, Andreas Víkingsson, Gísli Zhang, Xiangdong Andresen, Camilla S. MacKenzie, Brian R. A regime shift in the Southeast Greenland marine ecosystem |
author_facet |
Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter Chambault, Philippine Jansen, Teunis Gjelstrup, Caroline V. B. Rosing‐Asvid, Aqqalu Macrander, Andreas Víkingsson, Gísli Zhang, Xiangdong Andresen, Camilla S. MacKenzie, Brian R. |
author_sort |
Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter |
title |
A regime shift in the Southeast Greenland marine ecosystem |
title_short |
A regime shift in the Southeast Greenland marine ecosystem |
title_full |
A regime shift in the Southeast Greenland marine ecosystem |
title_fullStr |
A regime shift in the Southeast Greenland marine ecosystem |
title_full_unstemmed |
A regime shift in the Southeast Greenland marine ecosystem |
title_sort |
regime shift in the southeast greenland marine ecosystem |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16494 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.16494 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/gcb.16494 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
East Greenland east greenland current Fram Strait Greenland narwhal* Sea ice Subarctic walrus* |
genre_facet |
East Greenland east greenland current Fram Strait Greenland narwhal* Sea ice Subarctic walrus* |
op_source |
Global Change Biology volume 29, issue 3, page 668-685 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16494 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
29 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
668 |
op_container_end_page |
685 |
_version_ |
1812176428463030272 |