Arctic Sea Ice and Biodiversity

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013, Kieran Noonan-Mooney, CBD and Christine Gibb, CBD and FAO, "The Youth Guide to Biodiversity" 1st Edition (Chapter 2) Youth and United Nations Global Alliance. Reproduced with permission.

In the Arctic, ice is the platform for life. Many groups of species are adapted to life on top of or under ice. Many animals use sea ice as a refuge from predators or as a platform for hunting. Ringed seals need certain ice conditions in the spring for reproduction, while polar bears travel and hunt on the ice. Algae even grow on the underside of ice floating on the ocean. Ice is also the surface for transportation and is the foundation of the cultural heritage of the native Inuit people. The pattern of annual thawing and refreezing of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has changed dramatically in the first years of the twenty-first century. The extent of floating sea ice, measured every September, has declined steadily since 1980 (shown by the red trend line). Not only is the ice shrinking, but it is also much thinner.