Brent Else
Biographic Data
| ID | 6018076 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Brent Else |
| GIVEN NAMES | Brent |
| FAMILY NAME | Else |
| SIGNATURE | ELSE B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Calgary |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0002-7011 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Influence of oceanic mixing on sea ice net community production in the Canadian Arctic
Turbulence-driven nutrient supply has the potential to shape bottom sea ice microbial communities, affecting the balance of O2 uptake and release which defines the net community production (NCP) of the ice. This study contrasts sea ice NCP at two sites with comparatively high and low under-ice turbulent conditions. These locations were sampled over a 4-week spring bloom period in the Dease Strait region of the Kitikmeot Sea near the community of …
Evaluating Navigational Information and Data Needs to Support Safe Shipping in Canadian Arctic Waters
Vessel operators in the Canadian Arctic rely on accurate weather, water, ice, and climate (WWIC) information to make safe navigational decisions, particularly where sea ice is present. Despite the necessity of accurate WWIC information, it is currently unknown what services are being accessed by users on vessels in the Canadian Arctic, and to what extent user needs are being met by available WWIC services. User perspectives are crucial for develo…
Polar oceans and sea ice in a changing climate
Polar oceans and sea ice cover 15% of the Earth’s ocean surface, and the environment is changing rapidly at both poles. Improving knowledge on the interactions between the atmospheric and oceanic realms in the polar regions, a Surface Ocean–Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) project key focus, is essential to understanding the Earth system in the context of climate change. However, our ability to monitor the pace and magnitude of changes in the polar…
FTIR autecological analysis of bottom-ice diatom taxa across a tidal strait in the Canadian Arctic
A recent study demonstrated that an Arctic tidal strait, where a shoaled and constricted waterway increases tidally driven sub-ice currents and turbulence, represents a “hotspot” for ice algal production due to a hypothesized enhanced ocean-ice nutrient supply. Based on these findings, we sampled the bottom-ice algal community across the same tidal strait between the Finlayson Islands within Dease Strait, Nunavut, Canada, in spring 2017. Our obje…
Biophysical indicators and Indigenous and Local Knowledge reveal climatic and ecological shifts with implications for Arctic Char fisheries
Managing Arctic marine resources to be resilient to environmental changes requires knowledge of how climate change is affecting marine food webs and fisheries. Changes to fishery resources will have major implications for coastal Indigenous communities whose livelihoods, health, and cultures are strongly connected to fisheries. Understanding these broad social-ecological changes requires a transdisciplinary approach bringing together contrasting …
Sediment-laden sea ice in southern Hudson Bay
During a research expedition in Hudson Bay in June 2018, vast areas of thick (>10 m), deformed sediment-laden sea ice were encountered unexpectedly in southern Hudson Bay and presented difficult navigation conditions for the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Amundsen. An aerial survey of one of these floes revealed a maximum ridge height of 4.6 m and an average freeboard of 2.2 m, which corresponds to an estimated total thickness of 18 m, far greater tha…
Widespread surface water p CO2 undersaturation during ice-melt season in an Arctic continental shelf sea (Hudson Bay, Canada)
Estimating sea–air CO2 fluxes in coastal seas remains a source of uncertainty in global carbon budgets because processes like primary production, upwelling, water mixing, and freshwater inputs produce high spatial and temporal variability of CO2 partial pressure (pCO2). As a result, improving our pCO2 baseline observations in these regions is important, especially in sub-Arctic and Arctic seas that are experiencing strong impacts of climate chang…
Seasonal marine carbon system processes in an Arctic coastal landfast sea ice environment observed with an innovative underwater sensor platform
Studying carbon dioxide in the ocean helps to understand how the ocean will be impacted by climate change and respond to increasing fossil fuel emissions. The marine carbonate system is not well characterized in the Arctic, where challenging logistics and extreme conditions limit observations of atmospheric CO2 flux and ocean acidification. Here, we present a high-resolution marine carbon system data set covering the complete cycle of sea-ice gro…
The future of Arctic sea-ice biogeochemistry and ice-associated ecosystems
Underestimation of surface p CO2 and air-sea CO2 fluxes due to freshwater stratification in an Arctic shelf sea, Hudson Bay
The objective of this study is to quantify the impact of freshwater stratification on the vertical gradients of partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and estimates of air-sea CO2 exchange in Hudson Bay during peak sea-ice melt and river runoff. During the spring of 2018, we sampled water in Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait for dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, salinity, the oxygen stable isotope ratio in the water (δ18O), and other ancillary dat…
Estimates of net community production from multiple approaches surrounding the spring ice-edge bloom in Baffin Bay
Measurements of net community production (NCP) provide an upper constraint on the strength of the oceanic biological pump, the dominant mechanism for removing CO2 from the ocean surface and sequestering it at depth. In this investigation, our objectives were to describe the spatial and temporal variability of NCP associated with the spring ice-edge bloom in Baffin Bay and to identify the key environmental drivers controlling its variability. Usin…
Enhanced bottom-ice algal biomass across a tidal strait in the Kitikmeot Sea of the Canadian Arctic
Sea ice algae are an important contributor of primary production in the Arctic ecosystem. Within the bottom-ice environment, access to nutrients from the underlying ocean is a major factor controlling production, phenology, and taxonomic composition of ice algae. Previous studies have demonstrated that tides and currents play an important role in driving the flux of nutrients to bottom-ice algal communities when biological demand during the sprin…
Physical length scales of wind-blown snow redistribution and accumulation on relatively smooth Arctic first-year sea ice
Snow thickness measurements over relatively smooth Arctic first-year sea ice, obtained near Cambridge Bay in the Canadian Arctic (2014, 2016 and 2017) and near Elson Lagoon in the Alaskan Arctic (2003 and 2006), are analyzed to quantify physical length-scales and their relevant scaling behaviors. We use the multi-fractal temporally weighted detrended fluctuation analysis method to detect two major physical length-scales from the two independent s…
A synthesis of the arctic terrestrial and marine carbon cycles under pressure from a dwindling cryosphere
The current downturn of the arctic cryosphere, such as the strong loss of sea ice, melting of ice sheets and glaciers, and permafrost thaw, affects the marine and terrestrial carbon cycles in numerous interconnected ways. Nonetheless, processes in the ocean and on land have been too often considered in isolation while it has become increasingly clear that the two environments are strongly connected: Sea ice decline is one of the main causes of th…
Methods for biogeochemical studies of sea ice
Over the past two decades, with recognition that the ocean’s sea-ice cover is neither insensitive to climate change nor a barrier to light and matter, research in sea-ice biogeochemistry has accelerated significantly, bringing together a multi-disciplinary community from a variety of fields. This disciplinary diversity has contributed a wide range of methodological techniques and approaches to sea-ice studies, complicating comparisons of the resu…
Micrometeorological and Thermal Control of Frost Flower Growth and Decay on Young Sea Ice
Frost flowers are transient crystal structures that form on new and young sea ice surfaces. They have been implicated in a variety of biological, chemical, and physical processes and interactions with the atmosphere at the sea ice surface. We describe the atmospheric and radiative conditions and the physical and thermal properties of the sea ice and atmosphere that form, decay, and destroy frost flowers on young sea ice. Frost flower formation oc…
Summer Sea Ice Concentration, Motion, and Thickness Near Areas of Proposed Offshore Oil and Gas Development in the Canadian Beaufort Sea – 2009
This study was motivated by the potential development of offshore oil exploration leases in the Canadian Southern Beaufort Sea, an area within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. Sea ice concentration, extent, motion, and thickness data are vital to the success of potential oil operations in this region, and relevant data cannot be gleaned from larger-scale hemispheric studies. We therefore undertook regionally specific sea ice analyses in the sout…
Landfast Sea Ice Conditions in the Canadian Arctic
We used Canadian Ice Service (CIS) digital charts from 1983 to 2009 to create a climatology of landfast sea ice in the Canadian Arctic. The climatology characterized the spatial distribution and variability of landfast ice through an average annual cycle and identified the mean onset date, breakup date, and duration of landfast ice. Trends in date and duration of onset and breakup were calculated over the 26-year period on the basis of CIS region…
Biophysical indicators and Indigenous and Local Knowledge reveal climatic and ecological shifts with implications for Arctic Char fisheries
Managing Arctic marine resources to be resilient to environmental changes requires knowledge of how climate change is affecting marine food webs and fisheries. Changes to fishery resources will have major implications for coastal Indigenous communities whose livelihoods, health, and cultures are strongly connected to fisheries. Understanding these broad social-ecological changes requires a transdisciplinary approach bringing together contrasting …
Landfast Sea Ice Conditions in the Canadian Arctic
We used Canadian Ice Service (CIS) digital charts from 1983 to 2009 to create a climatology of landfast sea ice in the Canadian Arctic. The climatology characterized the spatial distribution and variability of landfast ice through an average annual cycle and identified the mean onset date, breakup date, and duration of landfast ice. Trends in date and duration of onset and breakup were calculated over the 26-year period on the basis of CIS region…
Summer Sea Ice Concentration, Motion, and Thickness Near Areas of Proposed Offshore Oil and Gas Development in the Canadian Beaufort Sea – 2009
This study was motivated by the potential development of offshore oil exploration leases in the Canadian Southern Beaufort Sea, an area within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. Sea ice concentration, extent, motion, and thickness data are vital to the success of potential oil operations in this region, and relevant data cannot be gleaned from larger-scale hemispheric studies. We therefore undertook regionally specific sea ice analyses in the sout…
Methods for biogeochemical studies of sea ice
Over the past two decades, with recognition that the ocean’s sea-ice cover is neither insensitive to climate change nor a barrier to light and matter, research in sea-ice biogeochemistry has accelerated significantly, bringing together a multi-disciplinary community from a variety of fields. This disciplinary diversity has contributed a wide range of methodological techniques and approaches to sea-ice studies, complicating comparisons of the resu…
Micrometeorological and Thermal Control of Frost Flower Growth and Decay on Young Sea Ice
Frost flowers are transient crystal structures that form on new and young sea ice surfaces. They have been implicated in a variety of biological, chemical, and physical processes and interactions with the atmosphere at the sea ice surface. We describe the atmospheric and radiative conditions and the physical and thermal properties of the sea ice and atmosphere that form, decay, and destroy frost flowers on young sea ice. Frost flower formation oc…
A synthesis of the arctic terrestrial and marine carbon cycles under pressure from a dwindling cryosphere
The current downturn of the arctic cryosphere, such as the strong loss of sea ice, melting of ice sheets and glaciers, and permafrost thaw, affects the marine and terrestrial carbon cycles in numerous interconnected ways. Nonetheless, processes in the ocean and on land have been too often considered in isolation while it has become increasingly clear that the two environments are strongly connected: Sea ice decline is one of the main causes of th…
Enhanced bottom-ice algal biomass across a tidal strait in the Kitikmeot Sea of the Canadian Arctic
Sea ice algae are an important contributor of primary production in the Arctic ecosystem. Within the bottom-ice environment, access to nutrients from the underlying ocean is a major factor controlling production, phenology, and taxonomic composition of ice algae. Previous studies have demonstrated that tides and currents play an important role in driving the flux of nutrients to bottom-ice algal communities when biological demand during the sprin…
Physical length scales of wind-blown snow redistribution and accumulation on relatively smooth Arctic first-year sea ice
Snow thickness measurements over relatively smooth Arctic first-year sea ice, obtained near Cambridge Bay in the Canadian Arctic (2014, 2016 and 2017) and near Elson Lagoon in the Alaskan Arctic (2003 and 2006), are analyzed to quantify physical length-scales and their relevant scaling behaviors. We use the multi-fractal temporally weighted detrended fluctuation analysis method to detect two major physical length-scales from the two independent s…
The future of Arctic sea-ice biogeochemistry and ice-associated ecosystems
Underestimation of surface p CO2 and air-sea CO2 fluxes due to freshwater stratification in an Arctic shelf sea, Hudson Bay
The objective of this study is to quantify the impact of freshwater stratification on the vertical gradients of partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and estimates of air-sea CO2 exchange in Hudson Bay during peak sea-ice melt and river runoff. During the spring of 2018, we sampled water in Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait for dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, salinity, the oxygen stable isotope ratio in the water (δ18O), and other ancillary dat…
Estimates of net community production from multiple approaches surrounding the spring ice-edge bloom in Baffin Bay
Measurements of net community production (NCP) provide an upper constraint on the strength of the oceanic biological pump, the dominant mechanism for removing CO2 from the ocean surface and sequestering it at depth. In this investigation, our objectives were to describe the spatial and temporal variability of NCP associated with the spring ice-edge bloom in Baffin Bay and to identify the key environmental drivers controlling its variability. Usin…
Sediment-laden sea ice in southern Hudson Bay
During a research expedition in Hudson Bay in June 2018, vast areas of thick (>10 m), deformed sediment-laden sea ice were encountered unexpectedly in southern Hudson Bay and presented difficult navigation conditions for the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Amundsen. An aerial survey of one of these floes revealed a maximum ridge height of 4.6 m and an average freeboard of 2.2 m, which corresponds to an estimated total thickness of 18 m, far greater tha…
Widespread surface water p CO2 undersaturation during ice-melt season in an Arctic continental shelf sea (Hudson Bay, Canada)
Estimating sea–air CO2 fluxes in coastal seas remains a source of uncertainty in global carbon budgets because processes like primary production, upwelling, water mixing, and freshwater inputs produce high spatial and temporal variability of CO2 partial pressure (pCO2). As a result, improving our pCO2 baseline observations in these regions is important, especially in sub-Arctic and Arctic seas that are experiencing strong impacts of climate chang…
Seasonal marine carbon system processes in an Arctic coastal landfast sea ice environment observed with an innovative underwater sensor platform
Studying carbon dioxide in the ocean helps to understand how the ocean will be impacted by climate change and respond to increasing fossil fuel emissions. The marine carbonate system is not well characterized in the Arctic, where challenging logistics and extreme conditions limit observations of atmospheric CO2 flux and ocean acidification. Here, we present a high-resolution marine carbon system data set covering the complete cycle of sea-ice gro…
FTIR autecological analysis of bottom-ice diatom taxa across a tidal strait in the Canadian Arctic
A recent study demonstrated that an Arctic tidal strait, where a shoaled and constricted waterway increases tidally driven sub-ice currents and turbulence, represents a “hotspot” for ice algal production due to a hypothesized enhanced ocean-ice nutrient supply. Based on these findings, we sampled the bottom-ice algal community across the same tidal strait between the Finlayson Islands within Dease Strait, Nunavut, Canada, in spring 2017. Our obje…
Biophysical indicators and Indigenous and Local Knowledge reveal climatic and ecological shifts with implications for Arctic Char fisheries
Managing Arctic marine resources to be resilient to environmental changes requires knowledge of how climate change is affecting marine food webs and fisheries. Changes to fishery resources will have major implications for coastal Indigenous communities whose livelihoods, health, and cultures are strongly connected to fisheries. Understanding these broad social-ecological changes requires a transdisciplinary approach bringing together contrasting …
Polar oceans and sea ice in a changing climate
Polar oceans and sea ice cover 15% of the Earth’s ocean surface, and the environment is changing rapidly at both poles. Improving knowledge on the interactions between the atmospheric and oceanic realms in the polar regions, a Surface Ocean–Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) project key focus, is essential to understanding the Earth system in the context of climate change. However, our ability to monitor the pace and magnitude of changes in the polar…
Evaluating Navigational Information and Data Needs to Support Safe Shipping in Canadian Arctic Waters
Vessel operators in the Canadian Arctic rely on accurate weather, water, ice, and climate (WWIC) information to make safe navigational decisions, particularly where sea ice is present. Despite the necessity of accurate WWIC information, it is currently unknown what services are being accessed by users on vessels in the Canadian Arctic, and to what extent user needs are being met by available WWIC services. User perspectives are crucial for develo…
Influence of oceanic mixing on sea ice net community production in the Canadian Arctic
Turbulence-driven nutrient supply has the potential to shape bottom sea ice microbial communities, affecting the balance of O2 uptake and release which defines the net community production (NCP) of the ice. This study contrasts sea ice NCP at two sites with comparatively high and low under-ice turbulent conditions. These locations were sampled over a 4-week spring bloom period in the Dease Strait region of the Kitikmeot Sea near the community of …
Oceanography (17 works) · Environmental Science (16 works) · Geology (16 works) · Sea ice (16 works) · Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics (15 works) · Arctic (13 works) · Arctic ice pack (8 works) · Ecology (8 works) · Bay (6 works) · Climatology (6 works)