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Late Holocene shift towards enhanced oceanic variability in a high-Arctic Svalbard fjord (79°N) at 2500 cal. yr BP

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Abstract

Paleoclimate records are crucial for understanding current changes taking place in the Arctic, e.g., the amplified warming and associated changes in sea-ice cover. However, paleoclimate and -oceanographic reconstructions, especially from the high Arctic, are scarce. Here, we present a reconstruction of sea surface and paleoenvironmental conditions from a Holocene marine sediment core collected from a high-Arctic fjord, Isvika Bay, Nordauslandet, Svalbard (79°N). Our proxies include qualitative diatom assemblage data [focusing on the Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) taxa], a quantitative diatom-based August sea surface temperature (aSST) reconstruction, sediment grain-size distribution, and ice-rafted debris (IRD) spanning the period from 4200 cal. yr BP to the Little Ice Age (LIA) at ca. 200 cal. yr BP. The results reveal cold and stable, glacier-proximal conditions for the beginning of the late Holocene (from 4200 to 2500 cal. yr BP). Then, at 2500 cal. yr BP, the environment shifted into distinctly more fluctuating conditions, where colder and warmer aSSTs alternated in a glacier-distal environment. During the latter part of the late Holocene, sea-ice cover was extensive, yet variable, negatively co-varying with aSST. Based on our diatom data, we observe a clear increase in the influence of Atlantic water in Isvika Bay during the last ca. 600 years.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Captain Tadeusz Pastusiak and the crew of MS Horyzont II. Coring was conducted as part of the international IPY-Kinnvika project that was funded by the Academy of Finland (Project No. 1,116,709). We thank M. Kinnunen for the grain-size distribution analysis and K. Pauli for valuable discussions. M. Oksman acknowledges funding from the Finnish Graduate School in Geology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geoscience and Geography, University of Helsinki, Gustaf Hällströmin Katu 2a, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Mimmi Oksman & Veli-Pekka Salonen

  2. Department of Glaciology and Climate, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Ø. Voldgade 10, 1350, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Kaarina Weckström

  3. ECRU, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 1, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Kaarina Weckström

  4. Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, 9296, Tromsø, Norway

    Arto Miettinen

  5. Geological Survey of Finland, Betonimiehenkuja 4, 02150, Espoo, Finland

    Antti E. K. Ojala

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  1. Mimmi Oksman
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Oksman, M., Weckström, K., Miettinen, A. et al. Late Holocene shift towards enhanced oceanic variability in a high-Arctic Svalbard fjord (79°N) at 2500 cal. yr BP. Arktos 3, 4 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41063-017-0032-9

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