Arctic Sea Ice Ecology and History - Dating Arctic Ice

Dating Arctic Ice

Estimates of how long the Arctic Ocean has had perennial ice cover vary. Those estimates range from 700,000 years in the opinion of Worsley and Herman, to 4 million years in the opinion of Clark. Here is how Clark refuted the theory of Worsley and Herman:

Recently, a few coccoliths have been reported from late Pliocene and Pleistocene central Arctic sediment (Worsley and Herman, 1980). Although this is interpreted to indicate episodic ice-free conditions for the central Arctic, the occurrence of ice-rafted debris with the sparse coccoliths is more easily interpreted to represent transportation of coccoliths from ice-free continental seas marginal to the central Arctic. The sediment record as well as theoretical considerations make strong argument against alternating ice-covered and ice-free....The probable Middle Cenozoic development of an ice cover, accompanied by Antarctic ice development and a late shift of the Gulf Stream to its present position, were important events that led to the development of modern climates. The record suggests that altering the present ice cover would have profound effects on future climates.

More recently, Melnikov has noted that, "There is no common opinion on the age of the Arctic sea ice cover." Experts apparently agree that the age of the perennial ice cover exceeds 700,000 years but disagree about how much older it is.

However, some research indicates that a sea area north of Greenland may have been open during the Eemian interglacial 120,000 years ago. Evidence of subpolar foraminifers (Turborotalita quinqueloba) indicate open water conditions in that area. This is in contrast to Holocene sediments that only show polar species.