Sea ice is home to a rich assemblage of ice-adapted algal organisms.  Ice core and experimental measurements of sea ice primary production have suggested a prominent role for ice algae in polar regions during the early spring, when pelagic (ocean) phytoplankton are light limited and offer a lower quality food source. For the Arctic, tight coupling of sea ice algae, upper ocean phytoplankton, and benthic (bottom ocean) organisms is evident at the highest levels of the food chain, suggesting that sea ice algae may play a key role in supporting polar marine ecosystems.  Recent advances in experimental techniques have allowed researchers to distinguish whether particulate organic carbon sinking fluxes are sourced from pelagic, terrestrial, or sea ice primary producers.  Surprisingly, the results indicate year-round use of ice-associated carbon in Arctic ecosystems and higher rates of sea ice carbon-benthic fluxes than indicated solely from primary production considerations.  Together, these findings motivate a need for better understanding of the growth, distribution, and fate of this important source of carbon, particularly as climate warming drives rapid sea ice decline.

In this presentation, we provide an overview of recent developments in sea ice biogeochemistry in the E3SM Earth System model and suggest linkages to a new ocean benthic biogeochemical component developed in InteRFACE (Interdisciplinary Research for Arctic Coastal Environments).  These capabilities, when coupled with the ocean biogeochemical component (MarBL), offer a powerful tool within an Earth System Framework for quantifying Arctic marine ecological change and assessing implications for carbon pathways in coastal and shelf waters.