Articles | Volume 22, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-187-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-187-2026
Research article
 | 
22 Jan 2026
Research article |  | 22 Jan 2026

Holocene sea ice and paleoenvironment conditions in the Beaufort Sea (Canadian Arctic) reconstructed with lipid biomarkers

Madeleine Santos, Lisa Bröder, Matt O'Regan, Iván Hernández-Almeida, Tommaso Tesi, Lukas Bigler, Negar Haghipour, Daniel B. Nelson, Michael Fritz, and Julie Lattaud

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Cited articles

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Short summary
Our study examined how sea ice in the Beaufort Sea has changed over the past 13 000 years to better understand today's rapid losses. By analyzing chemical tracers preserved in seafloor sediments, we found that the Early Holocene was largely ice-free, with warmer waters and lower salinity. Seasonal ice began forming about 7000 years ago and expanded as the climate cooled. These long-term patterns show that continued warming could return the region to mostly ice-free conditions.
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