Organic marker compounds in surface sediments from the Nordic Seas

TL;DRAbstract

Organic geochemical analyses of marine surface sediments from the continental margins of East Greenland and West Spitsbergen provide for a biomarker-based estimate of recent sea ice conditions in the northern North Atlantic. By means of the sea ice proxy IP25 and phytoplankton derived biomarkers (e.g. brassicasterol, dinosterol) we reconstruct sea ice and sea surface conditions, respectively. The combination of IP25 with a phytoplankton marker (in terms of a phytoplankton marker-IP25 index; PIP25) proves highly valuable to properly interpret the sea ice proxy signal as an under- or overestimation of sea ice coverage can be circumvented. A comparison of this biomarker-based assessment of the sea ice distribution in the study area with (1) modern remote sensing data and (2) numerical modelling results reveals a good agreement between organic geochemical, satellite and modelling observations. The reasonable simulation of modern sea ice conditions by means of a regional ocean-sea ice model

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