Sea Ice Loss leads to regime shifts in the arctic biological pump
The Arctic Ocean has undergone accelerated warming and a marked decline in sea ice over recent decades. Yet, the response of the biological pump-a critical mechanism for atmospheric carbon sequestration-remains poorly understood. Here, we develop a satellite-derived dataset (2003-2022) to identify a regime shift in the Arctic biological pump. Between 2003 and 2012, the strength and efficiency of the biological pump increased rapidly, primarily driven by sea ice decline. However, from 2013 to 2022, this trend plateaued, coinciding with stabilized sea ice conditions and increased phytoplankton biomass. Earth system model simulations (1850-2100) support the observed link between biological pump enhancement and sea ice loss, and project a future regime shift towards a weakened biological pump under nearly ice-free conditions, associated with shifts in phytoplankton community structure. These findings underscore the Arctic's vulnerability to climate-driven changes, with far-reaching implications for Arctic carbon sequestration and ecosystem stability.
Authors
- Di Qi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4762-266X)
- John C. Lehrter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9631-4589)
- Ruibo Lei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8525-8622)
- Zhangxian Ouyang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0173-0377)
- Wei‐Lei Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3201-7224)
- Fanyu Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6071-2512)
- Zong‐Pei Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5106-7593)
- Chuanmin Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3949-6560)
- Yihui Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9166-0837)
- Tingting Gu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2877-7191)
- Pengxin Deng
- Wei‐Jun Cai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3606-8325)
- Chengfeng Le (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4536-1913)
- Kui Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2262-4562)
- Musheng Lan
- Jianfeng He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7700-788X)
- Yuhan Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2029-7844)
- Ming Wu
Institutions
- Polar Research Institute of China (CN)
- China Meteorological Administration (CN)
- Jimei University (CN)
- Xiamen University (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- Ministry of Natural Resources (CN)
- Zhejiang Ocean University (CN)
- University of South Florida St. Petersburg (US)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
- University of South Alabama (US)
- University of Delaware (US)
- College of Marin (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-11-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65285-y
- Primary Topic
- Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Oregon State University
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Zhejiang University
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- U.S. Geological Survey
- Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province