Archive for the «Publications» Category

Gentilhomme, A. S., Dhakar, K., Timmins-Schiffman, E., Chaw, M., Firth, E., Junge, K., & Nunn, B. L. (2025). Proteomic Insights into Psychrophile Growth in Perchlorate-Amended Subzero Conditions: Implications for Martian Life Detection. Astrobiology. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2024.0065

Stern, H. (2025). Regime shift in Arctic Ocean Sea-Ice Extent, Geophysical Research Letters, in revision.

Ewert, M., Nunn, B. L., Firth, E., & Junge, K. (2025). Metabolic Responses, Cell Recoverability, and Protein Signatures of Three Extremophiles: Sustained Life During Long-Term Subzero Incubations. Microorganisms, 13(2), 251. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms13020251

Khuller, A.R., Warren, S.G., Christensen, P.R., Clow, G.D. (2024). Potential for Photosynthesis on Mars within Snow and Ice. Nature Communications Earth & Environment. (Editor’s highlight).

Moon, T.A., B. Cohen, T.E. Black, K.L. Laidre, H.L. Stern, and I. Joughin (2024). Characterizing southeast Greenland fjord surface ice and freshwater flux to support biological applications, The Cryosphere, 18, 4845–4872, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4845-2024

Laidre, Kristin L., Marie J. Zahn, Malene Simon, Michael Ladegaard, Kathleen M. Stafford, Elizabeth Phillips, Twila Moon, Harry L. Stern, and Benjamin Cohen (2024). Narwhal (Monodon monoceros) associations with Greenland summer meltwater release. Ecosphere 15(10): e70024. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70024

Regehr, E.V., K.L. Laidre, T.C. Atwood, H.L. Stern, and B. Cohen (2024). Sea-ice Conditions Predict Polar Bear Land Use around Military Installations in Alaska, Human-Wildlife Interactions, 17(1):21-36, https://doi.org/10.26077/39a8-fb75

Dunham, K.D., M.G. Dyck, J.V. Ware, A.E. Derocher, E.V. Regehr, H.L. Stern, G.B. Stenson, D.N. Koons (2024). A demographic survey of the Davis Strait polar bear subpopulation using physical and genetic capture-recapture-recovery sampling. Marine Mammal Science, 40(3), e13107. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13107

Xu, G., M. C. Rencurrel, P. Chang, X. Liu, G. Danabasoglu, S. G. Yeager, M. Steele, W. Weijer, Y. Li, N. Rosenbloom, F. Castruccio, Q. Zhang, High-resolution modelling identifies the Bering Strait’s role in amplified Arctic warming, Nat. Clim. Chang., https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02008-z, 2024.

Onarheim, I. H., Årthun, M., Teigen, S. H., Eik, K. J., & Steele, M., Recent thickening of the Barents Sea ice cover.  Geophysical Research Letters,  51, e2024GL108225. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL108225, 2024.

Vazquez-Cuervo, J.; Steele, M.; Wethey, D.S.; Gómez-Valdés, J.; García-Reyes, M.; Spratt, R.; Wang, Y. Validation and Application of Satellite-Derived Sea Surface Temperature Gradients in the Bering Strait and Bering Sea. Remote Sens., 16, 2530. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16142530, 2024.

Bushuk, M., S. Ali, D. A. Bailey, Q. Bao, L. Batt, U. S. Bhatt, E. Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, E. Blockley, G. Cawley, J. Chi, F. Counillonno, P. G. Coulombe, R. I. Cullather, F. X. Diebold, A. Dirkson, E. Exarchou, M. Gobel, W. Gregory, V. Guemas, L. Hamilton, B. He, S. Horvath, M. Ionita, J. E. Kay, E. Kim, N. Kimura, D. Kondrashov, Z. M. Labe, W. Lee, Y. J. Lee, C. Li, X. Li, Y. Lin, Y. Liu, W. Maslowski, F. Massonnet, W. N. Meier, W. J. Merryfield, H. Myint, J. C. Acosta Navarro, A. Petty, F. Qiao, D. Schroder, A. Schweiger, Q. Shu, M. Sigmond, M. Steele, J. Stroeve, N. Sun, S. Tietsche, M. Tsamados, K. Wang, J. Wang, W. Wang, Y. Wang, Y. Wang, J. Williams, Q. Yang, X. Yuan, J. Zhang, & Y. Zhang, Predicting September Arctic Sea Ice: A Multimodel Seasonal Skill Comparison. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 105, E1170–E1203, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0163.1, 2024.

Drushka, K., Westbrook, E., Bingham, F. M., Gaube, P., Dickinson, S., Fournier, S., Menezes, V., Misra, S., Pérez Valentín, J., Rainville, E. J., Schanze, J. J., Schmidgall, C., Shcherbina, A., Steele, M., Thomson, J., and Zippel, S.: Salinity and Stratification at the Sea Ice Edge (SASSIE): an oceanographic field campaign in the Beaufort Sea, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 4209–4242, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4209-2024, 2024.

Weijer, W., M. Veneziani, J. Clement Kinney, W. Maslowski, J. Zhang, and M. Steele, Advancing marine Arctic science through facilitating international collaborations. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc.,  105, E1762–E1767, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-24-0175.1, 2024.

Khuller, A.R. and Clow, G.D., (2024). Turbulent Fluxes and Evaporation/Sublimation Rates on Earth, Mars, Titan, and Exoplanets. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

Nawaz, A., J. Chung, S. Soelberg, D. Burnett, J. Kucewicz, and M. Steele, Small, Low Power Salinity Sensors Based on Solid State Potentiometry for Ocean Applications. OCEANS 2023 – MTS/IEEE U.S. Gulf Coast, doi:10.23919/oceans52994.2023.10336959, non-reviewed, 2023.

Buckley, E.M., Farrell, S.L., Herzfeld, U., Webster, M., Trantow, T., Baney, O.N., Duncan, K., Han, H., & M. Lawson (accepted), Observing the evolution of summer melt on multiyear sea ice with ICESat-2 and Sentinel-2, The Cryosphere, 17, 3695–3719, doi: 10.5194/tc-17-3695-2023, 2023.

Castro, S.L., G.A. Wick, S. Eastwood, M. Steele, and R.T. Tonboe, Examining the consistency of sea surface temperature and sea ice concentration in Arctic satellite products, Remote Sensing. 2023; 15(11):2908, doi:10.3390/rs15112908, 2023.

Sledd, A., T.S. L’Ecuyer, J.E. Kay, & M. Steele, Clouds increasingly influence Arctic sea surface temperatures as CO₂ rises. Geophys. Res. Lett., doi:10.1029/2023GL102850, 2023.

Landis M., Acharya, P.J., Alsaeed, N.R., Andres C., Becerra P., Calvin, W.M., Cangi, E.M., Cartwright, S.F.A.; Chaffin, M.S.; Diniega, S., Dundas, C. M., Hansen, C.J., Hayne, P.O., Herkenhoff, K.E., Kass, D.M., Khuller, A.R., McKeown, L., Russell, P.S., Smith, I.B., Sutton, S.S., Widmer, J.M., Whitten, J.L., (2023). Polar Science Results from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: Multiwavelength, multiyear insights. Icarus.

Laidre, K.L., Todd W. Arnold, Eric V. Regehr, Stephen N. Atkinson, Erik W. Born, Øystein Wiig, Nicholas J. Lunn, Markus Dyck, Harry L. Stern, Seth Stapleton, Benjamin Cohen, David Paetkau. 2023. Demographic response of a high-Arctic polar bear (Ursus maritimus) subpopulation to changes in sea ice and subsistence harvest, Endangered Species Research, Vol. 51: 73–87, https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01239

Zhang, J., W. Cheng, M. Steele, & W. Weijer, Asymmetrically stratified Beaufort Gyre: Mean state and response to decadal forcing. Geophys. Res. Lett., 50, doi:10.1029/2022GL100457, 2023.

Zhang, J., W. Cheng, M. Steele, & W. Weijer, Asymmetrically stratified Beaufort Gyre: Mean state and response to decadal forcing. Geophys. Res. Lett., 50, doi:10.1029/2022GL100457, 2023.

Hall, S.B., B. Subrahmanyam, & M. Steele, The role of the Russian Shelf in seasonal and interannual variability of Arctic sea surface salinity and freshwater content, J. Geophys. Res.: Oceans, 128, doi:10.1029/2022JC019247, 2023.

Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, E., Webster, M., Boisvert, L., Parker, C., & C. Horvat (in press), Record low SLP Arctic cyclone of January 2022: characteristics, impacts, and predictability, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 127, doi:10.1029/2022JD037161, 2022.

Parker, C., Mooney, P., Webster, M., & L. Boisvert, The influence of climate change on Arctic cyclones: recent and future, Nat. Comms., 13, 6514, doi:10.1038/s41467-022-34126-7, 2022.

Webster, M., & S.G. Warren (2022), Regional geoengineering using tiny glass bubbles would accelerate the loss of Arctic sea ice, Earth’s Future, 10, e2022EF002815, doi:10.1029/2022EF002815. 

Pacini, A., Pickart, R.S., Le Bras, I.A., Straneo, F., Holliday, N.P., and Spall, M.A., 2021. Cyclonic eddies in the West Greenland Boundary Current System. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 51, 2087-2102. https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0255.1 [doi.org]

Pacini, A. and Pickart, R.S., 2022. Meanders of the West Greenland Current near Cape Farewell. Deep-Sea Research I, 179, 103664. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2021.103664 [doi.org]

Moore, G., Steele, M., Schweiger, A.J., Zhang, J., and Laidre, K.L., Thick and old sea ice in the Beaufort Sea during summer 2020/21 was associated with enhanced transport. Commun Earth Environ 3, 198, doi:10.1038/s43247-022-00530-6, 2022.

Moore, G., Steele, M., Schweiger, A.J., Zhang, J., and Laidre, K.L., Thick and old sea ice in the Beaufort Sea during summer 2020/21 was associated with enhanced transport. Commun Earth Environ 3, 198, doi:10.1038/s43247-022-00530-6, 2022.

Moore, G., Steele, M., Schweiger, A.J., Zhang, J., and Laidre, K.L., Thick and old sea ice in the Beaufort Sea during summer 2020/21 was associated with enhanced transport. Commun Earth Environ 3, 198, doi:10.1038/s43247-022-00530-6, 2022.

Moore, G., Steele, M., Schweiger, A.J., Zhang, J., and Laidre, K.L., Thick and old sea ice in the Beaufort Sea during summer 2020/21 was associated with enhanced transport. Commun Earth Environ 3, 198, doi:10.1038/s43247-022-00530-6, 2022.

Light, B., Smith, M.M., Perovich, D.K., Webster, M., Holland, M., Linhardt, F., Raphael, I.A., Clemens-Sewall, D., MacFarlane, A., Anhaus, P., & D. Bailey (2022), Arctic sea ice albedo: spectral composition, spatial heterogeneity, and temporal evolution observed during the MOSAiC drift, Elementa: Sci. of the Anthro., 10(1) doi:10.1525/elementa.2021.000103.

Light, B., Smith, M.M., Perovich, D.K., Webster, M., Holland, M., Linhardt, F., Raphael, I.A., Clemens-Sewall, D., MacFarlane, A., Anhaus, P., & D. Bailey (2022), Arctic sea ice albedo: spectral composition, spatial heterogeneity, and temporal evolution observed during the MOSAiC drift, Elementa: Sci. of the Anthro., 10(1) doi:10.1525/elementa.2021.000103.

Optimized Compton fitting and modeling for light element determination in micro-X-ray fluorescence map datasets

O’Neil, L.P., D.C. Cating, and W.T. Elam, “Optimized Compton fitting and modeling for light element determination in micro-X-ray fluorescence map datasets,” Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. B, 436, 173-178, doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2018.09.023, 2018.

The Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) is an X-ray fluorescence instrument scheduled to fly to Mars on NASA’s 2020 rover (Allwood et al., 2015). It will be capable of quantifying elements with an atomic number of at least 11 using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), but the detector window blocks fluorescence from lighter elements. Important elements otherwise invisible include carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen, which can make up anions in minerals of scientific interest. X-rays scattered by all elements can be detected, so the ratio of Compton to Rayleigh scatter may be measured and used to infer the presence of elements for which there is no detectable fluorescence. We have refined a fundamental parameters model to predict the Compton/Rayleigh ratio for any given composition that can be compared to an experimentally measured ratio. We compare with a published Monte Carlo model (Schoonjans et al., 2012) and to experimental values for a set of seven materials. Compton/Rayleigh ratios predicted by the model are in good, though imperfect, agreement with experimental measurements. A procedure for consistently computing the Compton/Rayleigh ratio from a noisy spectrum has also been developed using a variation on a common background removal method and peak fitting.

In-situ X-ray fluorescence to investigate iodide diffusion in opalinus clay: Demonstration of a novel experimental approach

Jaquenoud, M., and 9 others including W.T. Elam, “In-situ X-ray fluorescence to investigate iodide diffusion in opalinus clay: Demonstration of a novel experimental approach,” Chemosphere, 269, doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128674, 2021.

During the last two decades, the Mont Terri rock laboratory has hosted an extensive experimental research campaign focusing on improving our understanding of radionuclide transport within Opalinus Clay. The latest diffusion experiment, the Diffusion and Retention experiment B (DR-B) has been designed based on an entirely different concept compared to all predecessor experiments. With its novel experimental methodology, which uses in-situ X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to monitor the progress of an iodide plume within the Opalinus Clay, this experiment enables large-scale and long-term data acquisition and provides an alternative method for the validation of previously acquired radionuclide transport parameters.

After briefly presenting conventional experimental methodologies used for field diffusion experiments and highlighting their limitations, this paper will focus on the pioneer experimental methodology developed for the DR-B experiment and give a preview of the results it has delivered thus far.

Avoiding slush for hot-point drilling of glacier boreholes

Hill’s, B.H., D.P. Winebrenner, W.T. Elam, and P.M.S. Kintner, “Avoiding slush for hot-point drilling of glacier boreholes,” Ann. Glaciol., 62, 166-170, doi:10.1017/a0g.2020.70, 2021.

Water-filled boreholes in cold ice refreeze in hours to days, and prior attempts to keep them open with antifreeze resulted in a plug of slush effectively freezing the hole even faster. Thus, antifreeze as a method to stabilize hot-water boreholes has largely been abandoned. In the hot-point drilling case, no external water is added to the hole during drilling, so earlier antifreeze injection is possible while the drill continues melting downward. Here, we use a cylindrical Stefan model to explore slush formation within the parameter space representative of hot-point drilling. We find that earlier injection timing creates an opportunity to avoid slush entirely by injecting sufficient antifreeze to dissolve the hole past the drilled radius. As in the case of hot-water drilling, the alternative is to force mixing in the hole after antifreeze injection to ensure that ice refreezes onto the borehole wall instead of within the solution as slush.

Hill, V., Light, B., Steele, M., & Sybrandy, A. L., Contrasting sea-ice algae blooms in a changing Arctic documented by autonomous drifting buoys. J. Geophys. Res.: Oceans, 127, e2021JC017848, doi:10.1029/2021JC017848, 2022.

Smith, M.M., Albedyll, L.v., Raphael, I., Lange, B., Matero, I., Salganik, E., Webster, M., Granskog, M.A., Fong, A., Lei, R., & B. Light (2022), Quantifying false bottoms and under-ice meltwater layers beneath Arctic summer sea ice with fine-scale observations, Elementa: Sci. of the Anthro. 10(1) doi:10.1525/elementa.2021.000116.

Hill, V., Light, B., Steele, M., & Sybrandy, A. L., Contrasting sea-ice algae blooms in a changing Arctic documented by autonomous drifting buoys. J. Geophys. Res.: Oceans, 127, e2021JC017848, doi:10.1029/2021JC017848, 2022.

Smith, M.M., Albedyll, L.v., Raphael, I., Lange, B., Matero, I., Salganik, E., Webster, M., Granskog, M.A., Fong, A., Lei, R., & B. Light (2022), Quantifying false bottoms and under-ice meltwater layers beneath Arctic summer sea ice with fine-scale observations, Elementa: Sci. of the Anthro. 10(1) doi:10.1525/elementa.2021.000116.

Zhang, C., A. F. Levine, M. Wang, C. Gentemann, C. W. Mordy, E. D. Cokelet, P. A. Browne, Q. Yang, N. Lawrence-Slavas, C. Meinig, G. Smith, A. Chiodi, D. Zhang, P. Stabeno, W. Wang, H. Ren, K. A. Peterson, S. N. Figueroa, M. Steele, N. P. Barton, and A. Huang, Evaluation of operational forecasts at Alaskan arctic sea surface using in situ observations from saildrones, Mon. Wea. Rev., 150, 1437–1455, doi: 10.1175/MWR-D-20-0379.1, 2022.

Huang, Y., Taylor, P.C., Rose, F.G., Rutan, D.A., Shupe, M.A., Webster M., & M. Smith (2022), Towards a more realistic representation of surface albedo in NASA CERES satellite products: a comparison with the MOSAiC field campaign, Elementa: Sci. of the Anthro., 10, doi:10.1525/elementa.2022.00013.

Webster, M., Holland, M., Wright, N.C., Hendricks, S., Hutter, N., Itkin, P., Light, B., Linhardt, F., Perovich, D.K., Raphael, I.A., Smith, M.M., Albedyll, L.v., & J. Zhang (2022), Spatiotemporal evolution of melt ponds on Arctic sea ice: MOSAiC observations and model results, Elementa: Sci. of the Anthro. 10, doi:10.1525/elementa.2021.000072.

Webster, M., Holland, M., Wright, N.C., Hendricks, S., Hutter, N., Itkin, P., Light, B., Linhardt, F., Perovich, D.K., Raphael, I.A., Smith, M.M., Albedyll, L.v., & J. Zhang (2022), Spatiotemporal evolution of melt ponds on Arctic sea ice: MOSAiC observations and model results, Elementa: Sci. of the Anthro. 10, doi:10.1525/elementa.2021.000072.

Webster, M., Holland, M., Wright, N.C., Hendricks, S., Hutter, N., Itkin, P., Light, B., Linhardt, F., Perovich, D.K., Raphael, I.A., Smith, M.M., Albedyll, L.v., & J. Zhang (2022), Spatiotemporal evolution of melt ponds on Arctic sea ice: MOSAiC observations and model results, Elementa: Sci. of the Anthro. 10, doi:10.1525/elementa.2021.000072.

Albedyll, L.v., Hendricks, S., Grodofzig, R., Krumpen, T., Arndt, S., Belter, H.J., Birnbaum, G., Cheng, B., Hoppmann, M., Hutchings, J., Itkin, P., Lei, R., Nicolaus, M., Ricker, R., Rohde, J., Suhrhoff, M., Timofeeva, A., Watkins, D., Webster, M., & C. Haas (2022), Thermodynamic and dynamic contributions to seasonal Arctic sea ice thickness distributions from airborne observations, Elementa: Sci. of the Anthro. 10, doi:10.1525/elementa.2021.00074.

Webster, M., Rigor, I., & N. Wright (2022), Observing Arctic sea ice, Oceanography. 35, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2022.115.