ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Ecosystem Ecology
This article is part of the Research TopicRapid Change in Polar Pelagic Ecosystems: New challenges on causes and effects of Climate VariabilityView all 4 articles
Arctic sea-ice Ridges: A major Contributor to Algal Habitable Space in Spring
Provisionally accepted
Giulia Castellani1,2*
Mats A. Granskog2
Aleksandra Elias Chereque3
Anthony Chun Yin Chan4Iael Perez5
Hauke Flores6
Christian Katlein6
Ilka Peeken6- 1Department of Environmental Physics (IUP), University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
- 2Norsk Polarinstitutt, Tromsø, Norway
- 3Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- 4University of Exeter Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Exeter, United Kingdom
- 5Suomen ymparistokeskus, Helsinki, Finland
- 6Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum fur Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany
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Arctic sea ice is highly heterogeneous and composed of a mosaic of different habitats. Our understanding of the impact of climate change on Arctic sea ice and especially on the ice-associated ecosystems is hindered by both a lack of data and a limited understanding of the processes associated with different sea-ice habitats. In particular sea-ice ridges are one of the most under-sampled and poorly understood components of the Arctic sea-ice system. During a spring campaign in the Arctic Ocean, we combined a number of sampling approaches to quantify: 1) the spatial variability of sea-ice algae at single floe and multiple floe scales; 2) the contribution of ridges to ice algal spatial variability; and 3) the role of ridges in shaping the sea ice as a habitat. For upscaling purposes, algal biomass retrieved from ice cores was compared with biomass estimates based on under-ice profiles covering a total of 36 km. Our results show that the level-ice spatial variability measured on a single ice floe can be representative of the larger scale variability. However, only when ridges are included in the analysis we are able to obtain a comprehensive picture of the large-scale ice algal biomass variability. In spring, ridges let more light pass through the ice due to their geometry and their effects on snow distribution, they thus offer a potentially favourable environment for algae to grow within, PAGE 24 This is a provisional file, not the final typeset article and they can act as funnels of light for pelagic organisms. On a large scale, ridges contribute more than 50% percent of the potential habitable space for ice algae for snow-covered Arctic sea ice in spring.
Keywords: Ridges, habitable space, algal spatial variability, light transmission, Arctic sea ice, Arctic spring
Received: 25 Jun 2025; Accepted: 10 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Castellani, Granskog, Chereque, Chan, Perez, Flores, Katlein and Peeken. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Giulia Castellani, giulia.castellani@uni-bremen.de
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