Researchers from Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), in collaboration with the University of Oxford and the University of Reading, have developed a new mathematical model to explain how a massive bloom of phytoplankton is growing under the Arctic sea ice, where it is normally far too dark for anything requiring photosynthesis to survive.
Their findings, published in the journal Science Advances, showed that sea ice thickness and melt ponds are responsible for creating an environment suitable for the bloom of phytoplankton.
“The meter decline in sea ice thickness in the Arctic in the past 30 years has dramatically changed the ecology in that area,” said Chris Horvat, a graduate student in applied mathematics in SEAS and first author of the paper,…
