The emergence of modern sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean

Jochen Knies (), Patricia Cabedo-Sanz, Simon T. Belt, Soma Baranwal, Susanne Fietz and Antoni Rosell-Melé
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Jochen Knies: Geological Survey of Norway
Patricia Cabedo-Sanz: Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth
Simon T. Belt: Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth
Soma Baranwal: Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate (CAGE), University of Tromsø
Susanne Fietz: Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Antoni Rosell-Melé: Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Arctic sea ice coverage is shrinking in response to global climate change and summer ice-free conditions in the Arctic Ocean are predicted by the end of the century. The validity of this prediction could potentially be tested through the reconstruction of the climate of the Pliocene epoch (5.33–2.58 million years ago), an analogue of a future warmer Earth. Here we show that, in the Eurasian sector of the Arctic Ocean, ice-free conditions prevailed in the early Pliocene until sea ice expanded from the central Arctic Ocean for the first time ca. 4 million years ago. Amplified by a rise in topography in several regions of the Arctic and enhanced freshening of the Arctic Ocean, sea ice expanded progressively in response to positive ice-albedo feedback mechanisms. Sea ice reached its modern winter maximum extension for the first time during the culmination of the Northern Hemisphere glaciation, ca. 2.6 million years ago.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6608

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