Air-Sea gas exchange in warming polar regions: impacts of the changing sea-ice scape

Sea ice has a complex role in regulating the biogeochemistry of and air-sea gas exchange in polar regions. As the polar regions warm and sea ice retreats its influence is changing rapidly, as are the sea and atmosphere conditions. Characterisation of these changes requires knowledge of the relevant biogeochemical exchange processes. In this webinar we will hear from two speakers, María Josefa Verdugo Avello (Department of Biology, Aarhus University) and John Prytherch (Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University), who will present their dual perspectives from the ocean and atmosphere sea ice interface on rapid changes occurring in polar regions. General discussion will follow the presentations.

Time:
15:00-16:00 UTC+2, Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Online
 
 
Host:
Aotearoa Blue Ocean Research & Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde
Conveners:
Karin Kvale (Aotearoa Blue Ocean Research, New Zealand)
Damian L. Arévalo-Martínez (Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde, Germany)
 
 

Speakers

Josefa Verdugo
Aarhus University, Denmark
 
Title: How meltwater shapes under-ice pCO₂ in the Arctic: from melt onset to melt pond drainage
 
Abstract: Arctic summer sea ice is shrinking, altering air–sea gas exchange—especially as meltwater freshens the surface ocean. To examine what this means for carbon dioxide (CO₂), we monitored a High-Arctic fjord in Northeast Greenland across the melt season, from early thaw to melt-pond drainage. In this talk, we draw on under-ice, high-frequency observations to unpack the key melt-season processes and how they regulate partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO₂) beneath the sea ice.
 
John Prytherch
Uppsala University, Sweden
 
Title: Constraining polar air-sea gas exchange with in situ flux observations
 
Abstract: Numerical models face persistent uncertainties in representing air-sea gas exchange in the presence of sea ice. Sea ice acts as a barrier to exchange while also influencing the exchange through its heterogeneous impacts on the physical, chemical and biological properties of the upper ocean. In summer months ephemeral meltwater layers present a particular challenge to both model representation, and to observations from ship-borne systems sampling below the stratification. Recent progress on understanding polar gas exchange and directions for future research are explored using in situ observations from several Arctic field campaigns.
 

 

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