Warming temperatures and melting ice in the Arctic may be causing a progressively earlier bloom of tiny ocean plants in the spring, which could hold consequences for the entire Arctic food chain, including the large whales.

Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California found “significant trends” towards earlier blooms of these plants, called phytoplankton, in about 11 per cent of the area of the Arctic Ocean closest to the North Pole. During the one- to two-week period in the spring, these blooms stimulate production of zooplankton, microscopic marine animals, which become a food source for fish and whales. However, the advancement of the bloom time may have consequences for the Arctic ecosystem as the timing of these blooms has occurred earlier each year for more than 10 years.

By analysing satellite data from 1997 to 2010 it was determined that the spring bloom has come up to 50 days earlier in some areas over that period. The earlier Arctic blooms occurred in areas where there’s been less ice cover so these openings may have created gaps that make early blooms possible. The findings were published in this month’s edition of the journal Global Change Biology.