What Melting Sea Ice Means for Life in the Arctic

Light is flooding into the Arctic. There will be winners and losers.

That’s what brought an international group of scientists to the Barents Sea to investigate how plant and animal life will adapt to the new normal. Two key factors that govern the Arctic ecosystem are rapidly changing: ice and light.

The Arctic is the fastest warming place on earth, and ice that used to form on the surface of the ocean is vanishing. That’s threatening species large and small that rely on it, but it’s also created an opportunity. Less ice means more light reaches the underwater ecosystem, benefiting the algae that anchors it as well as apex predators like whales and seals.

This video is part of a three-part series on the changing Arctic.