Changes caused by a warming planet may already be in motion. And Columbia University researcher Jay Ardai says the Arctic Ocean seems to be less salty now than when he was a graduate student 20 years ago. That there is less ice or at least fresh water, which one interpretation is less ice, so you could construe that to be an indication of overall global warming. In one sense that was interesting to me because I was on that project as well, and to come up here some 20 years later and remember what the numbers used to be myself and see that they are different and warmer is fairly interesting. Along with thinner ice, scientists are finding elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the Arctic Ocean.
Carbon dioxide helps plants grow, but it is also one of the so-called greenhouse gasses.
Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps heat near the earth. That's indicative of high productivity. So maybe productivity has increased as well. Which would make sense if the ice is thinner because what limits productivity in the Arctic Ocean is pretty much light. So if the snow cover is less, we would get more light and more production.