Paleoceanographic changes suggested by planktic and benthic foraminifera in the Western Svalbard Slope (Bellsund Drift) during the last century.

The objective of this study is to reconstruct the last century’s climatic oscillations in the Western Svalbard Slope (Arctic region) using high-resolution analysis of planktic and benthic foraminiferal assemblages as proxies for surface and deep-water mass properties. In the studied area, warm Atlantic water masses are advected to the Arctic Ocean through the West Spitsbergen Current, representing the northernmost tip of the Global Thermohaline Circulation. The interaction between the cold Arctic and the warm Atlantic water masses significantly influences the entire foraminiferal community. The paleoenvironmental reconstruction obtained with the microfossil assemblages, together with data from satellite monitoring of the sea ice extent and the long-term record of the annual temperature of the West Spitsbergen Current measured over the last 50 years, support the evidence of a progressively rising heat influx into the Arctic Ocean due to an increasing Atlantic water inflow, forcing the consequent decay of the sea ice extent.