The polar oceans play a crucial role in regulating Earth’s climate by storing vast amounts of carbon, driving global ocean circulation and influencing heat exchange with the atmosphere. Arctic and Antarctic oceans are particularly prone to environmental alterations due to polar amplification of changes in climate and other anthropogenic stressors. Such alterations include marine or continental ice retreat, changes in ocean salinity, circulation patterns, (bio)geochemical cycling, primary productivity and input of environmental toxins. Understanding these processes is vital for predicting their respective future impacts on regional or global climate. Particularly, the study of various elemental and/or isotope systems can advance our ability to track multiple processes, such as continental runoff, water mass sourcing and primary productivity in modern waters as well as during palaeo-oceanographic evolution. The implementation of chemical oceanographic data into Earth System Models further helps to identify key variables in polar environments.
This session focuses on physical, microbiological and chemical oceanographic trends in polar regions in response to past and present climatic changes and other anthropogenic impacts. We particularly encourage submissions focusing on elemental isotope budgets but also welcome contributions that explore elemental concentrations, (bio)geochemical models, plankton assemblages and physical oceanography including, but not limited to, water mass movements and meltwater input, advancing predictions of polar ocean development.