Wagner Penelope M.

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Wagner
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Penelope M.
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  • Article
    A new structure for the Sea Ice Essential Climate variables of the Global Climate Observing System
    (American Meteorological Society, 2022-06-01) Lavergne, Thomas ; Kern, Stefan ; Aaboe, Signe ; Derby, Lauren ; Dybkjaer, Gorm ; Garric, Gilles ; Heil, Petra ; Hendricks, Stefan ; Holfort, Jürgen ; Howell, Stephen ; Key, Jeffrey ; Lieser, Jan ; Maksym, Ted ; Maslowski, Wieslaw ; Meier, Walt ; Muñoz-Sabater, Joaquín ; Nicolas, Julien ; Ozsoy, Burcu ; Rabe, Benjamin ; Rack, Wolfgang ; Raphael, Marilyn ; de Rosnay, Patricia ; Smolyanitsky, Vasily ; Tietsche, Steffen ; Ukita, Jinro ; Vichi, Marcello ; Wagner, Penelope M. ; Willmes, Sascha ; Zhao, Xi
    Climate observations inform about the past and present state of the climate system. They underpin climate science, feed into policies for adaptation and mitigation, and increase awareness of the impacts of climate change. The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), a body of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), assesses the maturity of the required observing system and gives guidance for its development. The Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) are central to GCOS, and the global community must monitor them with the highest standards in the form of Climate Data Records (CDR). Today, a single ECV—the sea ice ECV—encapsulates all aspects of the sea ice environment. In the early 1990s it was a single variable (sea ice concentration) but is today an umbrella for four variables (adding thickness, edge/extent, and drift). In this contribution, we argue that GCOS should from now on consider a set of seven ECVs (sea ice concentration, thickness, snow depth, surface temperature, surface albedo, age, and drift). These seven ECVs are critical and cost effective to monitor with existing satellite Earth observation capability. We advise against placing these new variables under the umbrella of the single sea ice ECV. To start a set of distinct ECVs is indeed critical to avoid adding to the suboptimal situation we experience today and to reconcile the sea ice variables with the practice in other ECV domains.
  • Article
    Leads in Arctic pack ice enable early phytoplankton blooms below snow-covered sea ice
    (Nature Publishig Group, 2019-01-17) Assmy, Philipp ; Fernández-Méndez, Mar ; Duarte, Pedro ; Meyer, Amelie ; Randelhoff, Achim ; Mundy, Christopher J. ; Olsen, Lasse M. ; Kauko, Hanna Maria ; Bailey, Allison ; Chierici, Melissa ; Cohen, Lana ; Doulgeris, Anthony P. ; Ehn, Jens K. ; Fransson, Agneta ; Gerland, Sebastian ; Hop, Haakon ; Hudson, Stephen R. ; Hughes, Nick ; Itkin, Polona ; Johnsen, Geir ; King, Jennifer A. ; Koch, Boris P. ; Koenig, Zoe ; Kwasniewski, Slawomir ; Laney, Samuel R. ; Nicolaus, Marcel ; Pavlov, Alexey K. ; Polashenski, Christopher M. ; Provost, Christine ; Rösel, Anja ; Sandbu, Marthe ; Spreen, Gunnar ; Smedsrud, Lars H. ; Sundfjord, Arild ; Taskjelle, Torbjørn ; Tatarek, Agnieszka ; Wiktor, Jozef ; Wagner, Penelope M. ; Wold, Anette ; Steen, Harald ; Granskog, Mats A.
    The Arctic icescape is rapidly transforming from a thicker multiyear ice cover to a thinner and largely seasonal first-year ice cover with significant consequences for Arctic primary production. One critical challenge is to understand how productivity will change within the next decades. Recent studies have reported extensive phytoplankton blooms beneath ponded sea ice during summer, indicating that satellite-based Arctic annual primary production estimates may be significantly underestimated. Here we present a unique time-series of a phytoplankton spring bloom observed beneath snow-covered Arctic pack ice. The bloom, dominated by the haptophyte algae Phaeocystis pouchetii, caused near depletion of the surface nitrate inventory and a decline in dissolved inorganic carbon by 16 ± 6 g C m−2. Ocean circulation characteristics in the area indicated that the bloom developed in situ despite the snow-covered sea ice. Leads in the dynamic ice cover provided added sunlight necessary to initiate and sustain the bloom. Phytoplankton blooms beneath snow-covered ice might become more common and widespread in the future Arctic Ocean with frequent lead formation due to thinner and more dynamic sea ice despite projected increases in high-Arctic snowfall. This could alter productivity, marine food webs and carbon sequestration in the Arctic Ocean.