The study also shows that climate change is resulting in the increased distribution through the Arctic food chain of contaminants, such as methylmercury.
The $40-million study, which was conducted by 10 scientific teams from 27 countries, spent 2007-2008 studying open water along what are called flaw leads, or breaks in multi-year ice, where they studied how global warming is changing the entire marine ecosystem in the Arctic.
"The Arctic Ocean is definitely changing on a whole lot of different fronts," said Prof. David Barber, of the University of Manitoba.
The study was released Tuesday at the Polar Year conference in Montreal. The data was gathered aboard the research icebreaker Amundsen in the Amundsen Gulf south of Banks Island in the eastern Beaufort Sea.
Scientists explained that with ice coverage and ice thickness reaching record lows over the last decade, the energy dynamics of the Arctic Ocean are changing with profound effects on weather, ocean currents and plant and animal life.
With more solar energy piercing the open waters, ice melt also can affect the carbon exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere. With longer and warmer summers, more carbon dioxide can escape into the atmosphere while in the winter the colder open water can absorb more CO2. This carbon then can drop with the heavier water to the bottom of the sea and remain there for years.
Prof. Tim Papakyriakou, also of the University of Manitoba, said that scientists are not certain about how much CO2 is being stored and how much is being released to the atmosphere.
What they did discover is that winter processes can be as important as summer processes in this carbon exchange.
"We still don't know which is dominant," he said.
Scientists also discovered that the open water is becoming a "breeding ground" for underwater storms or eddies. This can bring more nutrients into the Arctic water swelling the populations of local fish, such as Arctic cod — and also attract invasive species.
The Polar Year conference comes at a time when studies indicate that interest in the Arctic among the general population is waning.
Yet scientists found a glimmer of hope in the fact that since February, individual Canadians sent donations totalling $12,000 to help fund a High Arctic research station after the federal government stopped financing it last year.
Prof. James Drummond, of Dalhousie University, said in an interview that the money will help send a student to the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) at Eureka, on the western coast of Ellesmere Island.
Since 2005, the research station had received $1.5 million a year from the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS) to maintain its permanent research station at Eureka.
The federal government created CFCAS in 2000 with a grant of $110 million. The foundation has spent $5.5 million funding the PEARL project. But the Conservative government decided last year not to fund the foundation as of March 1 of this year, which means no more money for PEARL.
Drummond, who heads the PEARL project, said while the amount of money is small, it was nevertheless significant that more than 150 Canadians reacted to the government's decision by sending donations for PEARL to the foundation. Individual donations ranged from $5 to $1,000.
Dawn Conway, executive director of the foundation, said the donations came to the foundation despite the fact CFCAS did not advertise.
The federal government's decision to stop funding this research came at a critical time for PEARL's research into the ozone layer.
Drummond said that last year, the hole in the ozone over the Arctic was larger than it has ever been and it is vital that the world permanently monitors this striking ozone depletion.
The government argues it is creating a new research station at Cambridge Bay, which is about 1,000 kilometres south of Eureka.
"It's like predicting the weather in Montreal by collecting weather data in Georgia," Drummond said.
He said PEARL also is a vital station for the verification of data collected by satellites orbiting over the Arctic. He said unless satellite data on atmospheric science are verified by Earth-based stations, nobody can be sure if the data is accurate. The position of PEARL'S High Arctic station is ideal for satellite verification, he said.
On April 30, PEARL will cease full-time, year-around operations.
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: William Marsden
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