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1. Enhancing Sea Ice Concentration Resolution in a Northern Sea Route Strait Using a Generative Adversarial Network

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JH000281  

   Rocha, M L; Lynch, A H; Bergen, K J (March 2025, Journal of Geophysical Research: Machine Learning and Computation)

   Abstract Straits are strategically and economically vital due to their role as maritime choke points, controlling access to regions and resources. This is particularly pertinent in the Arctic, where navigability along critical shipping routes relies on access through straits that are frequently ice impacted. With the retreat of Arctic sea ice under anthropogenic climate change, scenarios using CMIP6 projections have the potential to provide valuable insights into future maritime accessibility regimes. However, typical climate model spatial resolutions limit the capacity to represent Arctic straits accurately. This study introduces a novel approach, the sea Ice Concentration Enhancement Generative Adversarial Network (ICE‐GAN), to enhance the spatial resolution of sea ice concentration (SIC) in Vilkitsky Strait, a passage along the Northern Sea Route (NSR). By employing the ICE‐GAN model, the spatial resolution is functionally increased from to . The approach is prototyped using ERA5 Reanalysis training data to predict ice cover for 2021 and 2022. The results indicate that the ICE‐GAN method outperforms, across multiple metrics, standard interpolation techniques such as Nearest Neighbor Interpolation and Bilinear Interpolation, both used in maritime accessibility models, as well as the super‐resolution convolutional neural network, the best practice method for super‐resolution in SIC. Importantly, the approach is robust to the non‐stationarity of the sea ice record. Moreover, by incorporating a physics‐informed approach into the ICE‐GAN, the model is able to further improve the accurate representation of sea ice cover in the studied Strait. 

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2. Strategy for Protecting the Future Arctic Ocean

   https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2022.131  

   Brigham, Lawson; Gamble, James (January 2022, Oceanography)

   Marine access in the Arctic Ocean is increasing due to the relentless retreat of sea ice driven by anthropogenic climate change. Longer seasons of marine navigation allow increasing marine use by a diversity of stakeholders and vessels. Progress has been made in protecting the Arctic Ocean through cooperation among the Arctic States and proactive advances within international organizations, notably the International Maritime Organization. Measures addressing Arctic marine safety and environmental protection have been developed and adopted. This paper reviews 12 strategies or pathways forward for implementing policy measures developed in an array of organizations to protect the future Arctic Ocean. Ten high priority recommendations, all near-term action items that are believed achievable, are also advanced toward protecting Arctic people and the marine environment in the twenty-first century. 

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3. Broadening the sea-ice forecaster toolbox with community observations: A case study from the northern Bering Sea

   Deemer, G.J.; Bhatt, U S; Eicken, H; Posey, P G; Hutchings, J K; Nelson, J; Heim, R; Allard, R; Wiggins, H; Creek, K (January 2018, Arctic science)

   Impacts of a warming climate are amplified in the Arctic. One notorious impact is recent and record-breaking summertime sea-ice loss. Expanding areas of open water and a prolonged ice-free season create opportunity for some industries but challenge indigenous peoples relying on sea ice for transportation and access to food. The observed and projected increase of Arctic maritime activity requires accurate sea-ice forecasts to protect life, environment, and property. Motivated by emerging prediction needs on the operational timescale (≤10 days), this study explores where local indigenous knowledge (LIK) fits into the forecaster toolbox and how it can be woven into useful sea-ice information products. The 2011 spring ice retreat season in the Bering Sea is presented as a forecasting case study. LIK, housed in a database of community-based ice and weather logs, and an ice-ocean forecast model developed by the US Navy are analyzed for their ability to provide information relevant to stakeholder needs. Additionally, metrics for verifying numerical sea-ice forecasts on multiple scales are derived. The model exhibits skill relative to persistence and climatology on the regional scale. At the community scale, we discuss how LIK and new model guidance can enhance public sea-ice information resources. 

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4. The Distributed Biological Observatory: A Change Detection Array in the Pacific Arctic

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2019.05.005  

   Grebmeier, Jacqueline M.; Moore, Sue E.; Cooper, L. W.; Frey, K. E. (January 2019, Deepsea research)

   The Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) is a change detection array for select ecosystem variables along eight sampling transects in the Pacific Arctic Region (PAR). The overall objective of the DBO is to provide for the detection and consistent monitoring of the biophysical responses to major reductions in seasonal sea ice and concomitant increases in seawater temperatures observed across the region. A key uncertainty is how the PAR marine ecosystem is responding to these shifts in the timing of spring sea-ice retreat and/or delays in fall sea-ice formation. Variations in upper ocean hydrography, stratification, light penetration, planktonic production, pelagic-benthic coupling, and sediment carbon cycling are all influenced by sea ice and temperature changes. Observations of reduced sea ice extent/duration and seawater warming are linked to shifts in species composition and abundance, as well as northward range expansions in some upper trophic predators (e.g. humpback whales and commercially harvested fish), generally with negative impacts on ice-dependent species such as ice-associated seals and walruses. Some distributional shifts may be driven by changes in lower trophic level productivity that directly cascade into upper trophic levels. This special issue is a result of the international effort by participating scientists to implement a coordinated DBO that will meet these needs to understand the ecosystem responses to changing sea ice and thermal regimes. The key geographical focus is on the biologically productive waters in the PAR that are influenced by the inflow of North Pacific water through Bering Strait. Papers in this volume are based upon selected biological measurements at multiple trophic levels, together with appropriate hydrographic surveys and satellite observations. The DBO is developing into a significant national and international change detection resource for the identification and consistent monitoring of marine biophysical responses to climate change, with ongoing plans to expand into a pan-Arctic biological observing network. 

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5. The Distributed Biological Observatory: A change detection array in the Pacific Arctic – An introduction

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2019.05.005  

   Grebmeier, Jacqueline M.; Moore, Sue E.; Cooper, Lee W.; Frey, Karen E. (January 2019, Deepsea research)

   The Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) is a change detection array for select ecosystem variables along eight sampling transects in the Pacific Arctic Region (PAR). The overall objective of the DBO is to provide for the detection and consistent monitoring of the biophysical responses to major reductions in seasonal sea ice and concomitant increases in seawater temperatures observed across the region. A key uncertainty is how the PAR marine ecosystem is responding to these shifts in the timing of spring sea-ice retreat and/or delays in fall sea-ice formation. Variations in upper ocean hydrography, stratification, light penetration, planktonic production, pelagic-benthic coupling, and sediment carbon cycling are all influenced by sea ice and temperature changes. Observations of reduced sea ice extent/duration and seawater warming are linked to shifts in species composition and abundance, as well as northward range expansions in some upper trophic predators (e.g. humpback whales and commercially harvested fish), generally with negative impacts on ice-dependent species such as ice-associated seals and walruses. Some distributional shifts may be driven by changes in lower trophic level productivity that directly cascade into upper trophic levels. This special issue is a result of the international effort by participating scientists to implement a coordinated DBO that will meet these needs to understand the ecosystem responses to changing sea ice and thermal regimes. The key geographical focus is on the biologically productive waters in the PAR that are influenced by the inflow of North Pacific water through Bering Strait. Papers in this volume are based upon selected biological measurements at multiple trophic levels, together with appropriate hydrographic surveys and satellite observations. The DBO is developing into a significant national and international change detection resource for the identification and consistent monitoring of marine biophysical responses to climate change, with ongoing plans to expand into a pan-Arctic biological observing network. 

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