Holocene sea-ice and ice-sheet variability on the Northeast Greenland continental shelf

• Main Author: Syring, Nicole
• Other Authors: Stein, Ruediger, Schneider, Ralph
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Universität Bremen 2020
• Subjects: Sea ice; Biomarker; Holocene; Northeast Greenland; 550; 550 Earth sciences and geology; ddc:550; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Greenland; Fram Strait; Ice Sheet; Nordic Seas; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: https://media.suub.uni-bremen.de/handle/elib/4537; https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/334; https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-elib45373

When will all the Arctic sea ice in summer be gone? The rapid decline in average sea-ice extent by more than one-third during the last 3 to 4 decades leaves a sad note in terms of climate model projections. Dramatic Arctic sea-ice loss generally appears faster than climate models have forecasted. Nowadays, rapidly changing environmental conditions in the Fram Strait, the passage between Greenland and Spitsbergen, are of particular concern. Sea-ice loss here is rising and the Northeast Greenland Ice Sheet is thinning. During past decades, the amount of drift ice export has increased through Fram Strait, contributing with a significant number to the freshwater budget of the Nordic seas and global ocean circulation. Here our analysis of the Northeast Greenland continental shelf located in the western Fram Strait, uniquely records past climate changes in a highly versatile environmental system of the Arctic Ocean. Multivariate analysis of molecular highly branched isoprenoids (HBIs), specific sterols, foraminifers and organic/inorganic bulk parameters were carried out on selected downcore records and surface samples from the Northeast Greenland continental shelf. These proxies allow reconstructions of past changes in sea-ice cover, primary production, terrigenous input as well as ice-sheet extent. The first manuscript provides insights into past sea-ice variability on the outer Northeast Greenland continental shelf and the seasonal formation of the Northeast Water Polynya since the onset of the Holocene to present-day. This outer shelf regime is highly influenced by drift ice and cold water from the central Arctic Ocean and annually occurring local sea-ice formation. Interactive sea-ice and ocean dynamics regulate the regional climate and biology on the marginal shelf. Continuous seasonal sea-ice presence throughout the Holocene within three prominent stages mark relatively abrupt shifts at ~9 ka and ~1 ka. A reduced to variable sea-ice cover with an overall high primary productivity most likely driven by maximum ...