The Arctic Ocean is made up of a delicate and diverse ecosystem of marine life. Climate change has had widespread effects on this ecosystem, including well-known impacts such as thinning sea ice, species extinction, and increasing temperature of permafrost. However, one lesser known consequence of climate change in the Arctic is widespread exposure to light. Changing light patterns have the potential to alter patterns in marine arctic food chains, and can even affect the humans that call this region home.
Both natural and artificial light levels are changing in the Arctic Ocean. Recently, this region has experienced higher temperatures and fewer extreme cold events, leading to melting ice. Thinner ice allows more natural light to enter marine ecosystems through increased transparency and gaps. At the same time, the amount of artificial light has also increased, as thinning ice has created more open passages in the Arctic Ocean. As the number of open passages increases, the scientific, fisheries, and tourism sectors have encouraged human presence in the Arctic, and their associated equipment emits light that would not naturally occur in the area.
Increased natural light is impacting marine arctic ecosystems from the bottom up.
To read the rest of this article, follow this link to the Starfish Canada website where the original piece has been published:
Light & Life Below the Waterline: An Arctic Focus – The Starfish Canada