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Limited understanding of the climate system imposes upon policy makers an intimate reliance on results from Earth System Models (ESMs). However, climate simulations are necessarily incomplete since many strong channels through planetary scale biology and geochemistry remain too complex or poorly comprehended to include. This paper presents and describes an interactive, public domain website detailing the role of two marine biogeochemical (mBGC) feedback loops currently excluded from many ESMs (www.marinefeedbacks.com). Every page on the website includes images or videos to foster engagement with its technically challenging content. Simultaneously, fundamentals of the natural science involved are reinforced. The site includes subsections of the following nature; background information, executive summaries for each feedback type, detailed descriptions of the chemical mechanisms, climate change impact, and recommendations for future research. The information provided is firmly grounded in the technical literature but is designed specifically for accessibility to non-scientists. Particular targets for the material are the next-generation of decision makers and those framing the international climate agenda. It is hoped that a site with tailored pedagogical value may contribute to well informed policy formulation and legislation.

Phytoplankton blooms above the seamount Maud Rise in the Antarctic Ocean have been reported but their emerging mechanisms and their importance for the wider Southern Ocean are not well known. We use satellite data spanning over the last two  decades and in-situ data collected from a ship, an underwater glider and Biogeochemical-Argo profiling floats to understand the processes involved in the formation of Maud Rise phytoplankton blooms. We find that the seamount generates upwelling of warm deep water that transports heat, and likely dissolved iron, to the surface via diapycnal mixing. This creates a recurring annular structure of chlorophyll concentration (or chlorophyll halo) in correspondence with the previously observed warm water and sea ice halo over Maud Rise. The in-situ observations reveal integrated chlorophyll-a concentrations of up to 100 mg·m −2 , which suggests exceptionally high phytoplankton biomass within the Southern Ocean, thus making the seamount a regional phytoplankton hotspot. Annular phytoplankton blooms over the seamount Maud Rise in the Antarctic Ocean are linked with the presence of heat and dissolved iron upwelled from the deep sea through interactions between the ocean circulation and the topography of the seamount.

The physical and biogeochemical processes governing the air-sea CO.sub.2 flux in the Southern Ocean are still widely debated. The Southern Ocean Carbon and Heat Impact on Climate cruise in summer 2022 aimed at studying these processes in the Weddell Sea and in its vicinity. A CARbon Interface OCean Atmosphere (CARIOCA) drifting buoy was deployed in January 2022 in the subpolar Southern Ocean, providing hourly surface ocean observations of fCO.sub.2 (fugacity of CO.sub.2 ), dissolved oxygen, salinity, temperature, and chlorophyll a fluorescence for 17 months. An underwater glider was piloted with the buoy for the first 6 weeks of the deployment to provide vertical ocean profiles of hydrography and biogeochemistry. These datasets reveal an anomalously strong ocean carbon sink for over 2 months, occurring in the region of Bouvet Island and associated with large plumes of chlorophyll a (Chl a). Based on Lagrangian backward trajectories reconstructed using various surface currents fields, we identified that the water mass reaching the Bouvet Island region originated from the southwest, from the vicinity of the sea ice edge in spring 2021. A strong phytoplankton bloom developed there in November 2021. We propose that it was promoted by early sea ice retreat in 2021 in the Weddell Sea. These waters, depleted in carbon, then traveled to the position of the CARIOCA buoy. The very low values of ocean fCO.sub.2, measured by the buoy (down to 310 µatm), are consistent with net community production previously observed during blooms occurring near the sea ice edge, partly compensated by air-sea CO.sub.2 flux along the water mass trajectory. Early sea ice retreat might therefore have caused a large CO.sub.2 sink farther north than usual in summer 2022, in the Atlantic sector of the subpolar Southern Ocean. Such events might become more frequent in the future as a result of climate change.

In the Southern Ocean, large-scale phytoplankton blooms occur in open water and the sea-ice zone (SIZ). These blooms have a range of fates including physical advection, downward carbon export, or grazing. Here, we determine the magnitude, timing and spatial trends of the biogeochemical (export) and ecological (foodwebs) fates of phytoplankton, based on seven BGC-Argo floats spanning three years across the SIZ. We calculate loss terms using the production of chlorophyll—based on nitrate depletion—compared with measured chlorophyll. Export losses are estimated using conspicuous chlorophyll pulses at depth. By subtracting export losses, we calculate grazing-mediated losses. Herbivory accounts for ~90% of the annually-averaged losses (169 mg C m −2 d −1 ), and phytodetritus POC export comprises ~10%. Furthermore, export and grazing losses each exhibit distinctive seasonality captured by all floats spanning 60°S to 69°S. These similar trends reveal widespread patterns in phytoplankton fate throughout the Southern Ocean SIZ. Satellites can observe marine phytoplankton, but observations are sparse in seasonally dark, cloudy environments like the Southern Ocean. These authors use Argo floats to track the fate of phytoplankton blooms off Antarctica and determine 10% of biomass is exported, while 90% is prey to grazing.

Sea-ice diatoms are known to accumulate in large aggregates in and under sea ice and in melt ponds. There is recent evidence from the Arctic that such aggregates can contribute substantially to particle export when sinking from the ice. The role and regulation of microbial aggregation in the highly seasonal, nutrient- and light-limited Arctic sea-ice ecosystem is not well understood. To elucidate the mechanisms controlling the formation and export of algal aggregates from sea ice, we investigated samples taken in late summer 2011 and 2012, during two cruises to the Eurasian Basin of the Central Arctic Ocean. Spherical aggregates densely packed with pennate diatoms, as well as filamentous aggregates formed by Melosira arctica showed sign of different stages of degradation and physiological stoichiometries, with carbon to chlorophyll a ratios ranging from 110 to 66700, and carbon to nitrogen molar ratios of 8-35 and 9-40, respectively. Sub-ice algal aggregate densities ranged between 1 and 17 aggregates m(-2), maintaining an estimated net primary production of 0.4-40 mg C m(-2) d(-1), and accounted for 3-80% of total phototrophic biomass and up to 94% of local net primary production. A potential factor controlling the buoyancy of the aggregates was light intensity, regulating photosynthetic oxygen production and the amount of gas bubbles trapped within the mucous matrix, even at low ambient nutrient concentrations. Our data-set was used to evaluate the distribution and importance of Arctic algal aggregates as carbon source for pelagic and benthic communities.

The climate of the western shelf of the Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is undergoing a transition from a cold-dry polar-type climate to a warm-humid sub-Antarctic-type climate. Using three decades of satellite and field data, we document that ocean biological productivity, inferred from chlorophyll a concentration (Chl a), has significantly changed along the WAP shelf. Summertime surface Chl a (summer integrated Chl a ~63% of annually integrated Chl a) declined by 12% along the WAP over the past 30 years, with the largest decreases equatorward of 63°S and with substantial increases in Chl a occurring farther south. The latitudinal variation in Chl a trends reflects shifting patterns of ice cover, cloud formation, and windiness affecting water-column mixing. Regional changes in phytoplankton coincide with observed changes in krill (Euphausia superba) and penguin populations.

Lake ice melting and breakup form a fast, nonlinear process with important mechanical, chemical, and biological consequences. The process is difficult to study in the field due to safety issues, and therefore only little is known about its details. In the present work, the field data were collected on foot, by hydrocopter, and by boat for a full time series of the evolution of ice thickness, structure, and geochemistry through the melting period. The observations were made in lake Pääjärvi in 2018 (pilot study) and 2022. In 2022, the maximum thickness of ice was 55 cm with 60 % snow ice, and in 40 d the ice melted by 33 cm from the surface and 22 cm from the bottom while the porosity increased from less than 5 % to 40 %–50 % at breakup. In 2018, the snow-ice layer was thin, and bottom and internal melting dominated the ice decay. The mean melting rates were 1.31 cm d−1 in 2022 and 1.55 cm d−1 in 2018. In 2022 the electrical conductivity (EC) of ice was 11.4 ± 5.79 µS cm−1, which is 1 order of magnitude lower than in the lake water, and ice pH was 6.44 ± 0.28, which is lower by 0.4 than in water. The pH and EC of ice and water decreased during the ice decay except for slight increases in ice due to flushing by lake water. Chlorophyll a was less than 0.5 µg L−1 in porous ice, approximately one-third of that in the lake water. The results are important for understanding the process of ice decay with consequences for lake ecology, further development of numerical lake ice models, and modeling the safety of ice cover and ice loads.

Sea ice core chlorophyll a data are used to describe the seasonal, regional and vertical distribution of algal biomass in Southern Ocean pack ice. The Antarctic Sea Ice Processes and Climate – Biology (ASPeCt – Bio) circumpolar dataset consists of 1300 ice cores collected during 32 cruises over a period of 25 years. The analyses show that integrated sea ice chlorophyll apeaks in early spring and late austral summer, which is consistent with theories on light and nutrient limitation. The results indicate that on a circum‐Antarctic scale, surface, internal and bottom sea ice layers contribute equally to integrated biomass, but vertical distribution shows distinct differences among six regions around the continent. The vertical distribution of sea ice algal biomass depends on sea ice thickness, with surface communities most commonly associated with thin ice (<0.4 m), and ice of moderate thickness (0.4–1.0 m) having the highest probability of forming bottom communities. Key Points Antarctic sea ice chlorophyll a shows maxima in early spring and late summer Surface, internal and bottom ice layers contribute equally to integrated biomass The vertical distribution of chlorophyll a critically depends on ice thickness

From 2007 to 2013, the southeastern Bering Sea was dominated by extensive sea ice and below-average ocean temperatures. In 2014 there was a shift to reduced sea ice on the southern shelf and above-average ocean temperatures. These conditions continued in 2015 and 2016. During these three years, the spring bloom at mooring site M4 (57.9°N, 168.9°W) occurred primarily in May, which is typical of years without sea ice. At mooring site M2 (56.9°N, 164.1°W) the spring bloom occurred earlier especially in 2016. Higher chlorophyll fluorescence was observed at M4 than at M2. In addition, these three warm years continued the pattern near St. Matthew Island of high concentrations (>1 μM) of nitrite occurring during summer in warm years. Historically, the dominant parameters controlling sea-ice extent are winds and air temperature, with the persistence of frigid, northerly winds in winter and spring resulting in extensive ice. After mid-March 2014 and 2016 there were no cold northerly or northeasterly winds. Cold northerly winds persisted into mid-April in 2015, but did not result in extensive sea ice south of 58°N. The apparent mechanism that helped limit ice on the southeastern shelf was the strong advection of warm water from the Gulf of Alaska through Unimak Pass. This pattern has been uncommon, occurring in only one other year (2003) in a 37-year record of estimated transport through Unimak Pass. During years with no sea ice on the southern shelf (e.g. 2001-2005, 2014-2016), the depth-averaged temperature there was correlated to the previous summers ocean temperature.

The sea-surface microlayer and bulk seawater can contain ice-nucleating particles (INPs) and these INPs can be emitted into the atmosphere. Our current understanding of the properties, concentrations, and spatial and temporal distributions of INPs in the microlayer and bulk seawater is limited. In this study we investigate the concentrations and properties of INPs in microlayer and bulk seawater samples collected in the Canadian Arctic during the summer of 2014. INPs were ubiquitous in the microlayer and bulk seawater with freezing temperatures in the immersion mode as high as −14 °C. A strong negative correlation (R = −0. 7, p = 0. 02) was observed between salinity and freezing temperatures (after correction for freezing depression by the salts). One possible explanation is that INPs were associated with melting sea ice. Heat and filtration treatments of the samples show that the INPs were likely heat-labile biological materials with sizes between 0.02 and 0.2 µm in diameter, consistent with previous measurements off the coast of North America and near Greenland in the Arctic. The concentrations of INPs in the microlayer and bulk seawater were consistent with previous measurements at several other locations off the coast of North America. However, our average microlayer concentration was lower than previous observations made near Greenland in the Arctic. This difference could not be explained by chlorophyll a concentrations derived from satellite measurements. In addition, previous studies found significant INP enrichment in the microlayer, relative to bulk seawater, which we did not observe in this study. While further studies are needed to understand these differences, we confirm that there is a source of INP in the microlayer and bulk seawater in the Canadian Arctic that may be important for atmospheric INP concentrations.