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"If someone had asked me before the expedition whether we would see under-ice blooms, I would have told them it was impossible," said Kevin Arrigo of Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., leader of the ICESCAPE mission and lead author of the new study. "This discovery was a complete surprise."
Bontempi believes the discovery also may have major implications for the global carbon cycle and the ocean's energy balance. "The discovery certainly indicates we need to revise our understanding of the ecology of the Arctic and the region's role in the Earth system," Bontempi said.
The finding reveals a new consequence of the Arctic's warming climate and provides an important clue to understanding the impacts of a changing climate and environment on the Arctic Ocean and its ecology.
Recent changes in the timing of sea ice formation and retreat, along with increasing seawater temperatures, are driving shifts in marine species composition that may signal marine ecosystem reorganization in the Pacific Arctic sector. Interannual variability in seasonal sea ice retreat in the north- ern Bering Sea has been observed over the past decade; north of the Bering Strait, the Chukchi Sea ecosystem has had consistent earlier spring sea ice retreat and later fall sea ice formation.
Originally posted by jadedANDcynical
The general gist is that ice retreat in the summer is happening sooner and lasting longer than in previous years. The retreat also travels further, which affects the fauna in the ocean. This has an obvious aftect on the food chains and being as those chains are short, those effects are more dramatic.
Reading the paper, it is obvious that those conducting the study take anthropogenic global waing as fact, so you would be correct in asserting that the OPs initial conclusion is flawed.
My point in referencing the posts I made in those other threads was that no matter the impact we humans are having on our climate (the amount of which is debatable), there are larger cycles at work and forcings well beyond what we are able to impact that also play a role in how our climate responds.
Again, not to say that we are havig no impact on our climate. I just think its hubris to assume that we are the main force driving that change.
A bit more on topic while also presenting my prior point, I hope.
Originally posted by BellaSabre
Nah, there's no such thing as global warming.