一項研究發現,關於北極海冰覆蓋的一個650年的記錄可能被記錄在了海底藻類的每年的結殼中。對夏季北冰洋海冰覆蓋的衛星觀測僅能追溯幾十年,這妨礙了氣候建模者模擬數個世紀的氣候變化的嘗試。
Jochen Halfar及其同事發現,一種北極藻類物種——格形藻(Clathromorphum compactum)在它的鈣化的結殼裡保存了海冰覆蓋的記錄,就像樹木在它們的年輪中保存了降水量的歷史一樣。這種藻類在有陽光的時候一年接一年地生長方解石層。當海冰覆蓋了海洋遮擋住太陽的時候,光合作用生長就減緩和停止。海水溫度也以鎂和鈣的比例的形式保存在這種藻類的礦物質層中,只在光合作用生長階段把溫度記錄了下來。這些藻的長壽命讓這組作者能夠重建過去650年的夏季海冰覆蓋的變化記錄。
這組作者提出,根據格形藻外殼推斷出,在16世紀中葉到19世紀中葉的小冰期時期,北極海冰覆蓋顯示出了年度變化,但是在總體上是穩定的。
然而,這組作者說,自從1850年以來,海冰覆蓋變化的模式已經形成了一個數十年的下降趨勢。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推薦的英文摘要
Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences of the United States of America doi: 10.1073/pnas.1313775110
Arctic sea-ice decline archived by multicentury annual-resolution record from crustose coralline algal proxy
Jochen Halfara,1, Walter H. Adeyb, Andreas Kronzc, Steffen Hetzingerd, Evan Edingere, and William W. Fitzhughf
Northern Hemisphere sea ice has been declining sharply over the past decades and 2012 exhibited the lowest Arctic summer sea-ice cover in historic times. Whereas ongoing changes are closely monitored through satellite observations, we have only limited data of past Arctic sea-ice cover derived from short historical records, indirect terrestrial proxies, and low-resolution marine sediment cores. A multicentury time series from extremely long-lived annual increment-forming crustose coralline algal buildups now provides the first high-resolution in situ marine proxy for sea-ice cover. Growth and Mg/Ca ratios of these Arctic-wide occurring calcified algae are sensitive to changes in both temperature and solar radiation. Growth sharply declines with increasing sea-ice blockage of light from the benthic algal habitat. The 646-y multisite record from the Canadian Arctic indicates that during the Little Ice Age, sea ice was extensive but highly variable on subdecadal time scales and coincided with an expansion of ice-dependent Thule/Labrador Inuit sea mammal hunters in the region. The past 150 y instead have been characterized by sea ice exhibiting multidecadal variability with a long-term decline distinctly steeper than at any time since the 14th century.