image: The loss of sea ice over Arctic shelves allows for more wind-driven mixing, which is likely driving the increased flux of shelf-derived materials. In 2015, higher levels of radium were observed in the Central Arctic compared to 2007. This may result from increased mixing over the shelf transporting more shelf-derived materials (including radium, nutrients, carbon, and trace metals; shown as green dots) from the sediments in to the overlying water column, where they can then be carried by the Transpolar Drift to the Central Arctic. Other climate-driven changes, such as increased river discharge and permafrost thaw, may also be affecting shelf inputs to the open ocean. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the 03 January 2018, issue of Science Advances, published by AAAS. The paper, by L.E. Kipp at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, MA, and colleagues was titled, "Increased fluxes of shelf-derived materials to the central Arctic Ocean." view more
Credit: [Credit: N. Renier]