Investigators from a number of countries have been studying the ice community and experimental information is now available from a number of geographic areas. This includes ecological data as well as community and species specific physiological information. The literature on ice biota is scattered, being found in scientific journals, research and technical reports, symposia proceedings, M. S. theses and Ph.D. dissertations, meeting abstracts, and books on topics ranging from algal ecology to regional oceanography. Much of the material has not been published and some is available only in proprietry or difficult to obtain reports. The purpose of this book is to bring the data and references together in one place and to provide state of the art information on these little known, but ecologically important, polar communities.

This work is dedicated to the study of the composition, structure and dynamics of the Arctic sea ice ecosystem. It considers the permanent Arctic sea ice cover as an integral steady-state ecological system.

The book on sea ice ecology is the ecology of sea ice algae and other microorganism as bacteria, meiofauna, and viruses residing inside or at the bottom of the sea ice, called the sympagic biota. Organisms as seals, fish, birds, and Polar bears relies on sea ice but are not part of this biota. A distinct feature of this ecosystem, is the disappearance (melt) every summer and re-establishing in autumn and winter. The book is organized seasonally describing the physical, optical, biological, and geochemical conditions typical of the seasons: autumn, winter, and spring. These are exemplified with case studies based on author’s fieldwork in Greenland, the Arctic Ocean, and Antarctica but focused on Arctic conditions. The sea ice ecosystem is described in the context of climate change, interests, and effects of a decreasing summer ice extent in the Arctic Ocean. The book contains an up to date description of most relevant methods and techniques applied in sea ice ecology research. This book will appeal to university students at Masters or PhD levels reading biology, geosciences, and chemistry.

Over the past 20 years the study of the frozen Arctic and Southern Oceans and sub-arctic seas has progressed at a remarkable pace. This third edition of Sea Ice gives insight into the very latest understanding of the how sea ice is formed, how we measure (and model) its extent, the biology that lives within and associated with sea ice and the effect of climate change on its distribution. How sea ice influences the oceanography of underlying waters and the influences that sea ice has on humans living in Arctic regions are also discussed. Featuring twelve new chapters, this edition follows two previous editions (2001 and 2010), and the need for this latest update exhibits just how rapidly the science of sea ice is developing. The 27 chapters are written by a team of more than 50 of the worlds’ leading experts in their fields. These combine to make the book the most comprehensive introduction to the physics, chemistry, biology and geology of sea ice that there is. This third edition of Sea Ice will be a key resource for all policy makers, researchers and students who work with the frozen oceans and seas.

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Bremen, Germany, October 10-14, 1988

Sea ice, which covers up to 7% of the planet’s surface, is a major component of the world’s oceans, partly driving ocean circulation and global climate patterns. It provides a habitat for a rich diversity of marine organisms, and is an extremely valuable source of information in studies of global climate change and the evolution of present day life forms. Increasingly sea ice is being used as a proxy for extraterrestrial ice covered systems. Sea Ice provides a comprehensive review of our current available knowledge of polar pack ice, the study of which is severely constrained by the logistic difficulties of working in such harsh and remote regions of the earth. The book’s editors, Drs Thomas and Dieckmann have drawn together an impressive group of international contributing authors, providing a well-edited and integrated volume, which will stand for many years as the standard work on the subject. Contents of the book include details of the growth, microstructure and properties of sea ice, large-scale variations in thickness and characteristics, its primary production, micro-and macrobiology, sea ice as a habitat for birds and mammals, sea ice biogeochemistry, particulate flux, and the distribution and significance of palaeo sea ice. Sea Ice is an essential purchase for oceanographers and marine scientists, environmental scientists, biologists, geochemists and geologists. All those involved in the study of global climate change will find this book to contain a wealth of important information. All libraries in universities and research establishments where these subjects are studied and taught will need multiple copies on their shelves. David Thomas is at the School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, UK. Gerhard Dieckmann is at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany

We assessed the impact of sediment load on the abundances and composition of biological communities in near-shore fast ice and underlying waters close to Barrow, Alaska. Based on existing scientific evidence we hypothesized that any disturbance of the sea ice habitat, e.g. by enhanced sediment load, construction of ice roads and gas or oil spills, would likely impact the biological links between ice, water column and sea floor and may, hence, affect the biomass and productivity in all realms. Sampling was conducted in April 2002 and February, April and May 2003 with ice corers, water samplers, plankton nets and sediment corers at two locations which differed mainly in terms of sea ice sediment load.