New paper: How sea-ice arches shape Arctic productivity
We are very pleased to share a new paper led by Foucaut Tachon and the TAKUVIK team, published in Communications Earth & Environment, exploring how sea-ice dynamics regulate marine primary production in Nares Strait and the North Water Polynya (Pikialasorsuaq/Sarvarjuaq).
The work was carried out with Karen Nieto, Philippe Massicotte, Philippe Archambault, Marie Latil, Simon Bélanger, Marcel Babin, Karl Attard and Mathieu Ardyna, bringing together collaborators from Université Laval, CNRS/Takuvik, Université du Québec à Rimouski and SDU.
The study combined two decades of satellite observations of sea ice (2003–2023) with depth-resolved estimates of phytoplankton primary production. This allowed the team to investigate how the formation and breakup of the characteristic sea-ice arches in Nares Strait influence light availability, ice export and the timing and magnitude of phytoplankton blooms.
Two distinct productivity hotspots emerged. The North Water Polynya remained remarkably stable in its primary production over the two-decade record despite considerable year-to-year variability in sea-ice conditions. Further north, in Kennedy Channel, productivity was much more variable and developed only under particular sea-ice arch configurations, with the extent of this hotspot also strongly constrained by local bathymetry.
The study also found increasing primary production in northern Nares Strait, consistent with earlier sea-ice retreat and longer open-water seasons. Together, the results show that it is not simply the amount of sea ice that matters: the location and persistence of ice arches can act as important physical controls on Arctic ecosystem functioning.
The work provides new insight into the long-term stability of one of the Arctic’s most productive polynyas and into how changing sea-ice dynamics may reorganize productivity at the gateway to the Last Ice Area.
Reference
Tachon F, Nieto K, Massicotte P, Archambault P, Latil M, Bélanger S, Babin M, Attard K, Ardyna M (2026). Long-term stability of the North Water Polynya and emerging productivity hotspots driven by sea-ice arch dynamics in Nares Strait. Communications Earth & Environment. DOI: 10.1038/s43247-026-03968-0
