Sea ice algae bloom under thin ice before open-water spring blooms
Even before pack ice fully retreats, light penetrating thin translucent ice fuels dense algal films on the underside — an early green pulse in polar seas.
When melt releases those cells, they seed and amplify the open-water phytoplankton bloom that follows, feeding krill and fish sooner in the season.
Spring starts under the ice. Sea ice algae write the first paragraph of the polar food web while the surface still looks frozen shut.
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