Freshening of the Arctic is occurring now with the injection of new moisture into the Arctic’s atmosphere via evaporation resulting from newly open ocean areas due to sea ice loss.  Freshening of the Arctic’s atmosphere is one of the most dramatic changes that are now occurring in the north with important consequences for weather, precipitation patterns throughout the northern hemisphere and the delivery of freshwater in the form of snow and rain necessary for habitat and community health. 

At the same time, massive amounts of fresh water and ancient C are being transported from glaciers, ice caps, the Greenland Ice Sheet and the permafrost landscapes into the bays, fjords, coastal environments of the Arctic Ocean.  These injections of freshwater may be altering ocean stratification and ocean current patterns, while the new sources of C and nutrients are leading to regions with increasing productivity and Arctic Ocean C sequestration, a negative feedback to climate change.

Using state of the art stable water isotope (δ17O, δ18O, δ2H) instrumentation, Professor Welker and his team will use isotope forensic measurements to characterize ocean evaporation processes (freshening) and ocean freshening from melting ice, continuously along the 5,000 km+ mission. 

Simultaneously, the fertilization of coastal regions as indicated by the presence of elevated dissolved organic C and whether this carbon is ancient and derived from thawing permafrost landscapes is central to the new fertilization of the northern seas.  These freshening and fertilization measurements will allow this UOulu & UAA team to detect and characterize changes in the Arctic System with consequences for fresh water distribution in the atmosphere and throughout the ocean as well as food webs and the societies and communities that rely on sustainable fisheries and intact trophic levels. 

More information and photos in the attached pdf file.