Arctic food chain faces disruption: scientists

[Newsjock]

Source: Nunatsiaq News

Warming temperatures and melting ice in the Arctic may be causing a progressively earlier bloom of tiny ocean plants in the spring, and this shift could hold consequences for the entire Arctic food chain, say scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California.

... Scientists plotted the yearly spring bloom of these tiny plants at the base of the ocean food chain in the Arctic Ocean, notes the news release.

And they found the timing of these blooms has occurred earlier each year for more than 10 years.

By analyzing satellite data, they determined that the spring bloom has come up to 50 days earlier in some areas over that period.

... A match or mismatch in timing of this food source could explain much of the annual variability of fish stocks in the region, they say, and, over the longer term, it may have a larger impact on fish and whales.

Read more: http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/035678_arctic_food_chain_faces_disruption_scientists/

[Arctic Dave]

1. I wonder if that is why the Navy is up here right now. To study "it".

Or are they testing equipment.