Arctic sea-ice ridges are biomass hotspots harboring diverse microbial communities
Abstract Although sea-ice ridges are prominent features of the Arctic Ocean, very little is known about their role as habitats and in biogeochemical cycles. Here, we show that ridges provide complex sea-ice habitats which host unique and diverse biological communities. Seasonally, ridges appear to transition from a biological repository in winter to biological hotspots in summer, surpassing algal biomass in level ice and surface waters by up to eight-fold. In summer, ridges can contain up to 80% of the total area integrated sea-ice algal biomass, emphasizing their importance in the Arctic sea-ice ecosystem. However, environmental shifts, such as meltwater infiltration and freezing inside the ridge in late summer, alter microbial communities from being predominantly autotrophic to heterotrophic. Our work provides evidence of contrasting roles of sea-ice ridges for Arctic carbon cycling in summer and shows that the habitats in the ridge interior harbor unique microbial communities, adding complexity to Arctic biodiversity.
Authors
- Thomas Möck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9604-0362)
- J.P. Balmonte
- Lasse M. Olsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1328-2687)
- Elżbieta Petelenz
- Benjamin Lange (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4534-8978)
- Eva Leu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5328-3396)
- Jeffrey W. Krause (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2479-6229)
- Gaël Guillou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0156-687X)
- Anders Torstensson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8283-656X)
- Benoît Lebreton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8802-2287)
- Allison A. Fong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3779-9624)
- Morven Muilwijk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9101-6646)
- William Boulton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8258-4673)
- Gunnar Bratbak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8388-4945)
- Tatiana M. Tsagaraki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3006-2232)
- Evgenii Salganik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8383-7815)
- Rolf Gradinger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6035-3957)
- Philipp Assmy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8241-7541)
- Agnieszka Tatarek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1467-6362)
- Marit Reigstad (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8592-7192)
- Katja Metfies (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3073-8033)
- Aud Larsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5217-9274)
- Sinhue Torres-Valdes
- Nicole Aberle
- Mats A. Granskog
- Lena Eggers
- Clara J. M. Hoppe
- Knut V. Høyland
- Dmitry V. Divine
- Oliver Müller
- Jozef Wiktor
- Jessie Gardner
- Håkon Dahle
Institutions
- University of East Anglia (GB)
- Uppsala University (SE)
- Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NO)
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE)
- Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SE)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Universität Hamburg (DE)
- Lehigh University (US)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
- Dauphin Island Sea Lab (US)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE)
- LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés (FR)
- NORCE Research AS (NO)
- Hamburg Institut (Germany) (DE)
- Akvaplan-niva (NO)
- Instytut Oceanologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk (PL)
- University of Bergen (NO)
- UiT The Arctic University of Norway (NO)
- La Rochelle Université (FR)
- University of South Alabama (US)
- Norwegian Polar Institute (NO)
- Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Earth & Environment
- Published
- 2026-03-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03364-8
- Primary Topic
- Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Polarforskningssekretariatet
- Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas
- Vetenskapsrådet
- Norges Forskningsråd
- Stockholms Universitet
- Natural Environment Research Council