The oceanic component of the Transpolar Drift (TPD) is a key component of Arctic Ocean surface circulation. However, our understanding of its spatial extent and influence on the underlying water column remains limited. This study leverages a unique high spatial resolution oceanographic transect from August 2022 (late summer), first to identify in-situ criteria to define the extent of the river-influenced waters of the TPD and then to investigate its characteristics in the western Eurasian Basin. The section stretches from northeast of Greenland across the Amundsen and Nansen Basins to the continental slope north of Svalbard. Large contrasts are observed between the Amundsen and Nansen Basin, including a fresher surface ocean in the Amundsen Basin. By combining hydrography with in-situ measurements of dissolved organic matter fluorescence and dissolved oxygen, we characterize the water masses associated with the oceanic TPD. In our multi-parameter analysis, we find that the combination of the isopycnal 26 kg m-3 and elevated humic-like fluorescent dissolved matter can be used to identify the vertical and eastward extents of the oceanic TPD dominated by river-influenced waters. The upper halocline beneath the TPD core contains denitrified water with high Apparent Oxygen Utilization, suggesting a contribution from the Chukchi shelf. The interplay between the TPD and underlying water layers is complex: the TPD influences halocline strength but does not appear to affect the depth of the Atlantic Water core. Understanding this interplay is important, as ongoing climate-driven changes in surface circulation and freshwater distribution may alter the TPD, potentially impacting Arctic ecosystem dynamics.

Abstract The Arctic Ocean is changing from ice-covered to open water in summer, with boreal species expanding northwards. We conducted a ship-based marine ecosystem survey across the Eurasian Basin with pelagic trawling to the North Pole. Zooplankton biomass and abundances of capelin, Atlantic cod and other fish species were high in Atlantic Water along the continental shelf north of Svalbard. In contrast, no fish were caught in the lower epipelagic and mesopelagic layer (100- 500 m depth) north of 82 °N. This indicates that pelagic fishes are scarce in the Central Arctic Ocean, partly because of low zooplankton biomass. Seals and polar bears observed are likely sustained by the ice-associated food web, including ice amphipods and polar cod. As management advice, we suggest that the current fishing moratorium in the Central Arctic Ocean could be further developed into a marine protected area to conserve this unique Arctic biodiversity.

Abstract The Arctic Ocean is experiencing sea-ice losses. The increase in light availability has increased net primary production. However, recent studies postulate that nutrients (and not light) are now the dominant control. We present observations from the Fram Strait (1998–2023) showing a transition around 2009, consisting of a sharp decline in fixed-nitrogen concentrations in Polar Surface Waters and an accompanying increase in silicon-to-nitrogen ratios. We suggest this represents a regime shift where nitrate has emerged as the main limiting factor for primary production in the Arctic Ocean. This reduction in nitrate may have resulted from increased benthic denitrification on the shelves. By combining modelled benthic denitrification rates and Lagrangian trajectories, we identify a marked increase in nitrogen loss after 2009, with increasing denitrification in the Chukchi and East Siberian shelves. We attribute this response to reduced sea ice and circulation changes resulting in a regime shift toward stronger nitrogen limitation.

Abstract. The world's oceans are responding to anthropogenically induced climate change, with the Arctic Ocean being identified as one of the most rapidly changing regions. Quantifying the circulation and mixing timescales of Atlantic-origin waters in the Fram Strait – the primary gateway for Arctic-Atlantic exchange – is essential for understanding the evolving connectivity between the Arctic and the subpolar North Atlantic. This study utilizes the anthropogenic radionuclide tracer pair, Iodine-129 (129I) and Uranium-236 (236U), to investigate the origin and transit history of water masses sampled between 2016 and 2021. By applying a consistent methodological framework using both binary mixing and Transit Time Distribution (TTD) models to surface Polar Water and mid-depth Arctic Atlantic Water, we assess the temporal stability of the regional circulation regime. Our results reveal significant interannual variability. Waters outflowing the Fram Strait in 2020 exhibited a higher degree of 10 mixing and a stronger influence from Amerasian Basin sourced waters compared to 2016 and 2021. We identify a distinct water parcel on the Greenland Shelf with a tracer signature indicating a long-path circulation from the Canada Basin in 2020. Finally, we find a tendency towards elevated circulation timescales in 2021 that are related to either slower circulation timescales or longer circulation pathways. These findings highlight the importance of further assessing the temporal evolution of Atlantic Waters arriving in Fram Strait as the Atlantic layer brings heat to the Arctic Ocean.

The waters adjacent to the Nioghalvfjerdsbræ (79 North Glacier, 79NG) are influenced by Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) melt, sea-ice meltwater, and waters on the adjacent northeast Greenland shelf (NEGS). We investigated ocean acidification (OA) variables and the role of freshening, primary production, and air-sea CO2 exchange in Dijmphna Sound (DS) and on the NEGS in the summers of 2012 and 2016. The upper 150 m consisted of Polar Water with Arctic origin that was divided into a fresh surface layer (SL<50 m) and a cold halocline layer (CHL, 50 to 150 m). The layer below 150 m was of Atlantic origin. The SL freshwater was larger in 2012 than in 2016, mainly originated from local 79NG (and GrIS) runoff in DS, whereas on the NEGS in both years, it was mainly from sea-ice melt. The lowest aragonite saturation state (ΩAr) of 1.13 was found in the SL in 2012. Biological CO2 drawdown at primary production caused increased ΩAr in SL, which compensated for most of the ΩAr decrease due to the freshwater dilution of carbonate ions reducing total alkalinity, hence preventing corrosive conditions. This was most pronounced near the 79NG front in 2012, where surface stratification was most pronounced coinciding with large glacial meltwater fractions. Freshening decreased ΩAr by 0.4 at the 79NG front was compensated by biological CO2 drawdown by ~0.5. In 2016, a well-mixed water column in DS and NEGS, with dilution by sea-ice meltwater, caused less compensation on ΩAr by biological CO2 drawdown than in 2012. In future with changing climate and changing ocean chemistry, the increased meltwater effects may overcome the alleviating effects of biological CO2 drawdown on OA with unfavorable conditions for calcifying organisms. However, our study also suggests that primary production may be stimulated by stratification from surface meltwater. In addition, Atlantification and subglacial discharge may result in upwelling of inorganic nutrients that could promote primary production.

Limitations of access have long restricted exploration and investigation of the cavities beneath ice shelves to a small number of drillholes. Studies of sea-ice underwater morphology are limited largely to scientific utilization of submarines. Remotely operated vehicles, tethered to a mother ship by umbilical cable, have been deployed to investigate tidewater-glacier and ice-shelf margins, but their range is often restricted. The development of free-flying autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with ranges of tens to hundreds of kilometres enables extensive missions to take place beneath sea ice and floating ice shelves. Autosub2 is a 3600 kg, 6.7m long AUV, with a 1600m operating depth and range of 400 km, based on the earlier Autosub1 which had a 500m depth limit. A single direct-drive d.c. motor and five-bladed propeller produce speeds of 1–2m s. Rear-mounted rudder and stern-plane control yaw, pitch and depth. The vehicle has three sections. The front and rear sections are freeflooding, built around aluminium extrusion space-frames covered with glass-fibre reinforced plastic panels. The central section has a set of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic pressure vessels. Four tubes contain batteries powering the vehicle. The other three house vehicle-control systems and sensors. The rear section houses subsystems for navigation, control actuation and propulsion and scientific sensors (e.g. digital camera, upward-looking 300 kHz acoustic Doppler current profiler, 200 kHz multibeam receiver). The front section contains forward-looking collision sensor, emergency abort, the homing systems, Argos satellite data and location transmitters and flashing lights for relocation as well as science sensors (e.g. twin conductivity–temperature–depth instruments, multibeam transmitter, subbottom profiler, AquaLab water sampler). Payload restrictions mean that a subset of scientific instruments is actually in place on any given dive. The scientific instruments carried on Autosub are described and examples of observational data collected from each sensor in Arctic or Antarctic waters are given (e.g. of roughness at the underside of floating ice shelves and sea ice).

The Fram Strait, located between Svalbard and Greenland is an important gateway for exchange of salt and heat between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean and is also a geographically crucial region for investigating Atlantic water transport pathways and transit times, which are necessary to understand the progress of environmental changes in the Arctic. 236U from the two European nuclear reprocessing plants (RPs) at La Hague (LH) and Sellafield (SF) provides a unique signal in Atlantic water for studying its circulation pattern in the Arctic Ocean. In this study we first isolate RP-derived 236U (236URP) using the characteristic 233U/236U signature and then use colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) to indicate transit pathways and therefore constrain the selection of appropriate 236URP input functions. High CDOM absorbance in the Fram Strait reflects the passage of Atlantic water transported to the Arctic by the Norwegian Coastal Current (NCC) and subsequently along the Siberian shelf where the Ob, Yenisei and Lena rivers supply terrestrial organic matter with high CDOM levels. Conversely low CDOM water represents Atlantic water that has remained off the shelf. Based on CDOM absorbance, potential temperature (θ) and water depth the path of a given body of Atlantic water could be determined and an appropriate RP input function selected so that transit times could be estimated. Waters with high CDOM levels sourced from the NCC and Barents Sea branch water (BSBW) had an average Atlantic water transit time of 12 years. Waters with low CDOM, θ < 2 °C, and depth < 1500 m were sourced from the Norwegian Atlantic Current (NwAC), had little interaction with riverine freshwater with an advective Atlantic water transit time of 26 years.

The Fram Strait is a key region for investigating the exchange of Atlantic water with the Arctic Ocean. Uranium-236 (236U) from the two European nuclear reprocessing plants (NRPs) at La Hague and Sellafield provides a unique fingerprint in Atlantic water which can be used for studying its circulation patterns in the Arctic Ocean. And NRPs-derived 236U (236UNRPs) can be identified by its 233U/236U signature. In this study, we use colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) absorption to constrain the selection of three Atlantic branch waters that carried different inputs of 236UNRPs in Fram Strait. This can potentially provide better estimates of transit times of Atlantic waters in the Arctic Ocean. High CDOM levels (a350≥0.35 m−1) in Fram Strait reflect the passage of Atlantic water transported to the Arctic by the Norwegian Coastal Current (NCC) and its extension and subsequently along the Siberian continental slope and shelf where the Ob, Yenisei and Lena rivers supply terrestrial organic matter with significantly high CDOM content. Conversely, low CDOM water represents Atlantic water that has remained off the shelf. Based on CDOM absorption, potential temperature (Θ), potential density (σΘ) and 236U concentration, the path of a given body of Atlantic water could be inferred and an appropriate NRPs input function constrained so that transit times could be estimated. Our results indicate that Arctic High CDOM Water (a350≥0.35 m−1) sourced from the NCC and Barents Sea Branch Water (BSBW) in the Barents Sea Opening has an average of 7–27 yrs transit time in the upper ∼200 m of the western shelf of the Fram Strait. Atlantic Low CDOM Water (a350<0.35 m−1, Θ>2 °C) sourced from the Fram Strait Branch Water (FSBW) has a short pathway from the eastern Fram Strait. Arctic Low CDOM / High 236U Water (a350<0.35 m−1, Θ≤2 °C, σΘ≤27.97 or 236U concentration ≥15 × 106 atom/L) sourced from the BSBW and the FSBW has an average of 22–28 yrs transit time. These findings demonstrate how combining measurements of CDOM with 236UNRPs can improve the robustness in estimation of transit times of different Atlantic water pathways in the Arctic Ocean. There are limited ways to empirically derive estimates and the values provided offer unique data for comparison with estimates from regional circulation models.

Nutrient cycles in the Arctic Ocean are being altered by changing hydrography, increasing riverine inputs, glacial melt and sea-ice loss due to climate change. In this study, combined isotopic measurements of dissolved nitrate (δ15N-NO3 and δ18O-NO3) and silicic acid (δ30Si(OH)4) are used to understand the pathways that major nutrients follow through the Arctic Ocean. Atlantic waters were found to be isotopically lighter (δ30Si(OH)4=+ 1.74 ‰) than their polar counterpart (δ30Si(OH)4=+ 1.85 ‰) owing to partial biological utilisation of dissolved Si (DSi) within the Arctic Ocean. Coupled partial benthic denitrification and nitrification on Eurasian Arctic shelves lead to the enrichment of δ15N-NO3 and lighter δ18O-NO3 in the polar surface waters (δ15N-NO3= 5.44 ‰, δ18O-NO3= 1.22 ‰) relative to Atlantic waters (δ15N-NO3= 5.18 ‰, δ18O-NO3= 2.33 ‰). Using a pan-Arctic DSi isotope dataset, we find that the input of isotopically light δ30Si(OH)4 by Arctic rivers and the subsequent partial biological uptake and biogenic Si burial on Eurasian shelves are the key processes that generate the enriched isotopic signatures of DSi exported through Fram Strait. A similar analysis of δ15N-NO3 highlights the role of N-limitation due to denitrification losses on Arctic shelves in generating the excess dissolved silicon exported through Fram Strait. We estimate that around 40 % of DSi exported in polar surface waters through Fram Strait is of riverine origin. As the Arctic Ocean is broadly N-limited and riverine sources of DSi are increasing faster than nitrogen inputs, a larger silicic acid export through the Fram Strait is expected in the future. Arctic riverine inputs therefore have the potential to modify the North Atlantic DSi budget and are expected to become more important than variable Pacific and glacial DSi sources over the coming decades.

The hydrography of the Arctic Seas is being altered by ongoing climate change, with knock‐on effects to nutrient dynamics and primary production. As the major pathway of exchange between the Arctic and the Atlantic, the Fram Strait hosts two distinct water masses in the upper water column, northward flowing warm and saline Atlantic Waters in the east, and southward flowing cold and fresh Polar Surface Water in the west. Here, we assess how physical processes control nutrient dynamics in the Fram Strait using nitrogen isotope data collected during 2016 and 2018. In Atlantic Waters, a weakly stratified water column and a shallow nitracline reduce nitrogen limitation. To the west, in Polar Surface Water, nitrogen limitation is greater because stronger stratification inhibits nutrient resupply from deeper water and lateral nitrate supply from central Arctic waters is low. A historical hindcast simulation of ocean biogeochemistry from 1970 to 2019 corroborates these findings and highlights a strong link between nitrate supply to Atlantic Waters and the depth of winter mixing, which shoaled during the simulation in response to a local reduction in sea‐ice formation. Overall, we find that while the eastern Fram Strait currently experiences seasonal nutrient replenishment and high primary production, the loss of winter sea ice and continued atmospheric warming has the potential to inhibit deep winter mixing and limit primary production in the future.

Anthropogenic chemical tracers are powerful tools to study pathways, water mass provenance and mixing processes in the ocean. Releases of the long-lived anthropogenic radionuclides 129I and 236U from European nuclear reprocessing plants label Atlantic Water entering the Arctic Ocean with a distinct signal that can be used to track pathways and timescales of Atlantic Water circulation in the Arctic Ocean and Fram Strait. Apart from their application as transient tracers, the difference in anthropogenic radionuclide concentrations between Atlantic- and Pacific-origin water provides an instrument to distinguish the interface between both water masses. In contrast to classically used water mass tracers such as nitrate-phosphate (N:P) ratios, the two radionuclides are considered to behave conservatively in seawater and are not affected by biogeochemical processes occurring in particular in the broad shelf regions of the Arctic Ocean. Here we present a time-series of 129I and 236U data across the Fram Strait, collected in 2016 (as part of the GEOTRACES program) and in 2018 and 2019 (by the Norwegian Polar Institute). While the overall spatial distribution of both radionuclides was similar among the three sampling years, significant differences were observed in the upper water column of the EGC, especially between 2016 and 2018. This study is the first attempt to investigate the potential of 129I and 236U as water mass composition tracers in the East Greenland Current (EGC). We discuss how the 129I - 236U tracer pair can be applied to estimate fractions of Atlantic and Pacific Water, especially considering their time-dependent input into the Arctic Ocean.

The volume, characteristics and sources of freshwater circulating in the Arctic Ocean vary in time and are expected to change under a declining sea ice cover, influencing the physical environment and Arctic ecosystem. Relatively fresh (S = 32) Pacific Water, which enters the Arctic Ocean via the Bering Strait makes up a significant part of the liquid freshwater exiting the Arctic Ocean through Fram Strait. If transported to the Nordic Seas and North Atlantic via the East- and West Greenland Currents freshwater from the Pacific could have an effect on convection and dense water formation in those regions.More than 30 repeated sections of nutrient measurements have been collected across Fram Strait between 1980 and 2019. The fraction of Pacific Water along these repeated sections can be estimated from the ratio of nitrate to phosphate. The time-series of repeated Fram Strait sections indicates that the fraction of Pacific Water passing out of the Arctic Ocean has changed significantly over the last 30 years. Pacific water fractions remained high from 1980 to 1998, but in 1999 Pacific water almost disappeared from Fram Strait, reappearing from 2011 to 2012, when there was a peak in freshwater export though Fram Strait.Several hypotheses suggest how variations in the large-scale atmospheric circulation over the Arctic Ocean may influence the transport and pathways of Pacific Water. We show how anomalies in reanalysis wind fields are associated with the reappearance of Pacific Water in Fram Strait in recent years. Repeated sections across Fram Strait are compared with sea ice back-trajectories in the Polar Pathfinder 4 product and a simulated Pacific Water tracer in the NAOSIM numerical model to investigate likely Pacific water pathways through the Arctic Ocean and upstream drivers of changes observed in Fram Strait.

Norske oer Ice Barrier (NoIB) is a vast region of fast ice off northeast Greenland. To understand its thermodynamics, an ice mass balance buoy (IMB) was deployed in late August 2012. The IMB operated for a full year, providing unique year-round observations of air, snow, ice, and upper ocean. Here, we examine atmospheric conditions and snow and sea ice evolution, derive the ocean heat flux at the deployment site, and investigate the effect of snow on the sea ice mass balance. Although an extremely low surface air temperature of -52 degrees C was recorded at the IMB site, the sum of freezing-degree days (4,848 K center dot d) is similar to that in the central Arctic. The maximum snow depth 0.73 m (on 29 May 2013, when ice was 2.19 m thick) is thicker than typically observed on level Arctic landfast ice and drift ice, and thick snow appears common in this region. Ocean heat flux was large in autumn and early winter (>7 W m(-2)), attributed in part to local solar heating of surface waters in summer and advected ocean heat later in the year. The combination of high ocean heat flux and thick snow resulted in a net loss of ice at the ice bottom over the year. A one-dimensional sea ice model suggests that the thick snow cover limits bottom ice growth significantly. The heavy snow load could potentially have contributed 0.29 m snow ice; however, we cannot unambiguously prove this happened.

Anthropogenic chemical tracers are powerful tools to study ocean circulation timescales, water mass provenance and mixing regimes. In the Arctic Ocean, the releases of artificial radionuclides from European nuclear reprocessing plants (RPs) act as valuable transient tracers as they label the inflowing Atlantic Waters with a distinct anthropogenic signal. In recent years, the combination of the two long-lived radionuclides 129I and 236U has emerged as a new tracer pair and several studies have shown their potential to track pathways and timescales of Atlantic Water circulation in the Arctic Ocean and Fram Strait.The circulation times of Atlantic-origin waters in the Arctic Ocean that were inferred using this tracer pair (in combination with the naturally occurring 238U) agree to those obtained by means of other transient tracers. Moreover, the combination of 129I and 236U promises to be a useful marker of water mass mixing regimes both in the surface waters and the subsurface Atlantic layer. In particular, the interface between Atlantic and Pacific Waters in the polar surface layer of the Arctic Ocean can be easily identified as these two water masses are labelled by very different 129I/236U and 236U/238U atom ratios.Here we present a compilation of 129I and 236U in a quasi-synoptic pan-arctic section including the Fram Strait and we show how this data can be used to gain information about circulation patterns. We discuss timescales and transport characteristics of Atlantic Water flow, the position and variability of the front between Atlantic and Pacific Waters and the temporal variability of Pacific Waters in the Fram Strait.

My first comment regards the implementation of the N:P ratio method used to identify Pacific Water. Figure 7 in your paper shows low fractions (10 -20 %) of Pacific Water along much of the boundary section in places that seem unlikely.For example, much of Fram Strait is filled with low fractions of Pacific Water below 1000 m.Pacific Water is buoyant and enters the stratified Arctic through a 60 m deep channel, so it seems unlikely that Pacific Water should be found at the bottom of Fram Strait.I think these apparently-spurious Pacific Water fractions might need be addressed before we can

Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden is a major outlet glacier in Northeast-Greenland. Although earlier studies showed that the floating part near the grounding line thinned by 30% between 1999 and 2014, the temporal ice loss evolution, its relation to external forcing and the implications for the grounded ice sheet remain largely unclear. By combining observations of surface features, ice thickness and bedrock data, we find that the ice shelf mass balance has been out of equilibrium since 2001, with large variations of the thinning rates on annual/multiannual time scales. Changes in ice flux and surface ablation are too small to produce this variability. An increased ocean heat flux is the most plausible cause of the observed thinning. For sustained environmental conditions, the ice shelf will lose large parts of its area within a few decades and ice modeling shows a significant, but locally restricted thinning upstream of the grounding line in response.