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Volume 13
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10.3390/jmse13122257
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This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

Snow and Sea Ice Melt Enhance Under-Ice pCO2 Undersaturation in Arctic Waters

by
Josefa Verdugo
1,*,
Eugenio Ruiz-Castillo
1,
Søren Rysgaard
1,2,
Wieter Boone
3,
Tim Papakyriakou
2,
Nicolas-Xavier Geilfus
4 and
Lise Lotte Sørensen
5
1
Department of Biology, Center for Ice-Free Arctic Research (CIFAR), Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
2
Centre for Earth Observation Science and Department of Environment and Geography, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R2C 0A1, Canada
3
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), 8400 Oostende, Belgium
4
Tvärminne Zoological Station, University of Helsinki, 10901 Hanko, Finland
5
Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2025, 13(12), 2257; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse13122257
Submission received: 10 October 2025 / Revised: 22 November 2025 / Accepted: 24 November 2025 / Published: 27 November 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sea Ice Algal and Bacterial Productivity: Patterns, Processes and Environmental Change)
Versions Notes

Abstract

The decline in Arctic summer sea ice alters air–sea gas exchange. Because the Arctic Ocean accounts for 5%–14% of global oceanic carbon uptake, understanding how sea ice melt impacts the ocean’s carbon sink capacity is central to constraining future fluxes. In this study, we focus on Young Sound-Tyrolerfjord in Northeast Greenland to examine the sea ice-ocean interaction during the transition from melt onset to melt pond drainage. High-frequency measurements of partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and seawater physical properties were taken 2.5 m below the sea ice. Our results reveal that pCO2 in the seawater was undersaturated (248–354 μatm) compared to the atmosphere (401 μatm), showing that the seawater has the potential to take up atmospheric CO2 as the sea ice breaks up. The pCO2 undersaturation was attributed to dilution resulting from mixing meltwater from snow and sea ice with the under-ice seawater. Additionally, the drainage of melt pond water that had been in contact with the atmosphere into the under-ice seawater further lowered pCO2. Melt pond drainage represents an initial connection between the atmosphere and under-ice seawater through meter-thick sea ice during the summer thaw. Our study demonstrates that snow and sea ice melt reduce pCO2 in under-ice seawater, enhancing its potential for atmospheric CO2 uptake during sea ice breakup.
Keywords: under-ice pCO2; high-frequency pCO2 measurements; snow and sea ice meltwater; Arctic under-ice pCO2; high-frequency pCO2 measurements; snow and sea ice meltwater; Arctic

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Verdugo, J.; Ruiz-Castillo, E.; Rysgaard, S.; Boone, W.; Papakyriakou, T.; Geilfus, N.-X.; Sørensen, L.L. Snow and Sea Ice Melt Enhance Under-Ice pCO2 Undersaturation in Arctic Waters. J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2025, 13, 2257. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse13122257

AMA Style

Verdugo J, Ruiz-Castillo E, Rysgaard S, Boone W, Papakyriakou T, Geilfus N-X, Sørensen LL. Snow and Sea Ice Melt Enhance Under-Ice pCO2 Undersaturation in Arctic Waters. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. 2025; 13(12):2257. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse13122257

Chicago/Turabian Style

Verdugo, Josefa, Eugenio Ruiz-Castillo, Søren Rysgaard, Wieter Boone, Tim Papakyriakou, Nicolas-Xavier Geilfus, and Lise Lotte Sørensen. 2025. "Snow and Sea Ice Melt Enhance Under-Ice pCO2 Undersaturation in Arctic Waters" Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 13, no. 12: 2257. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse13122257

APA Style

Verdugo, J., Ruiz-Castillo, E., Rysgaard, S., Boone, W., Papakyriakou, T., Geilfus, N.-X., & Sørensen, L. L. (2025). Snow and Sea Ice Melt Enhance Under-Ice pCO2 Undersaturation in Arctic Waters. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 13(12), 2257. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse13122257

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