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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Andrew HendersonORCiD, Dr Helen Mackay
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
High Arctic ecosystems and Indigenous livelihoods are tightly linked and exposed to climate change, yet assessing their sensitivity requires a long-term perspective. Here, we assess the vulnerability of the North Water polynya, a unique seaice ecosystem that sustains the world’s northernmost Inuit communities and several keystone Arctic species. We reconstruct mid-tolate Holocene changes in sea ice, marine primary production, and little auk colony dynamics through multi-proxy analysis of marine and lake sediment cores. Our results suggest a productive ecosystem by 4400–4200 cal yrs b2k coincident with the arrival of the first humans in Greenland. Climate forcing during the late Holocene, leading to periods of polynya instability and marine productivity decline, is strikingly coeval with the human abandonment of Greenland from c. 2200–1200 cal yrs b2k. Our long-term perspective highlights the future decline of the North Water ecosystem, due to climate warming and changing sea-ice conditions, as an important climate change risk.
Author(s): Ribeiro S, Limoges A, Masse G, Johansen KL, Colgan W, Weckström K, Jackson R, Georgiadis E, Mikkelsen N, Kuijpers A, Olsen J, Olsen SM, Nissen M, Andersen TJ, Strunk A, Wetterich S, Syväranta J, Henderson ACG, Mackay H, Taipale S, Jeppesen E, Larsen NK, Crosta X, Giraudeau J, Wengrat S, Nuttall M, Grønnow B, Mosbech A, Davidson TA
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Nature Communications
Year: 2021
Volume: 12
Online publication date: 22/07/2021
Acceptance date: 01/07/2021
Date deposited: 24/08/2021
ISSN (electronic): 2041-1723
Publisher: Springer Nature
URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24742-0
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24742-0
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