Underwater Arctic forests are expanding with rapid warming

May 21, 2019

An iceberg floats in the sea ice near the town of Uummannaq in western Greenland March 18, 2010. REUTERS/Svebor Kranjc

Climate change is altering marine habitats such as kelp forests on a global scale. Image: REUTERS/Svebor Kranjc

Karen Filbee-Dexter

Research Fellow in Marine Ecology, Université Laval

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Photographs show examples of Arctic kelp forests: (A) Alaria esculenta in Greenland, (B) Laminaria solidungula in the Beaufort Sea, Alaska (Ken Dunton), (C) Laminaria hyperborea in Malangen fjord, Norway (Karen Filbee-Dexter), (D) Saccharina latissima on sediment in Russia, (E) Agarum clathratum and (F) mixed Saccharina latissima, S. longicruris, Alaria esculenta, Laminaria solidungula in Baffin Island, Canada (Frithjof Küpper), (G) Eularia fistulosa Aleutian Islands, Alaska (Pike Spector), (H) Laminaria hyperborea in Murmansk, Russia (Dalnie Zelentsy), (I) Laminaria digitata in Svalbard, Norway (Max Schwanitz)

Image: Karen Filbee-Dexter, Author provided

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