Pack ice shelters polar plankton until spring melt floods the surface
Sea ice is not sterile: brine channels and undersides host ice algae that photosynthesize through thin translucent lids all winter.
When spring melt releases that biomass, and light floods open water, explosive plankton blooms feed copepods, krill, and the whales and seals that follow.
Frozen seas are living roofs. Pack ice times polar food webs by storing the first green pulse until the sun returns in force.
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