Artificial illumination at night is increasing by 6% per year on average, thus becoming one of the fastest-spreading environmental challenges of the Anthropocene. Recent advances in the study of Arctic marine ecosystems have show that the poalr night is characterized by continuous activity and biological interactions across all trophic levels and taxonomic groups. Importantly, even at the darkest periods of the year, light is still the primary regulative factor.
The overarching hypothesis addressed in DEEP IMPACT is that in a system where organisms remain active and are adapted to detect and respond to extremely low levels of natural light during the polar night, their susceptibility towards light pollution is likely to be high.
With a continued warming and reduction of Arctic sea ice, human presence in the region is predicted to increase substantially. Inevitably, so will light pollution. This will have a direct impact on organisms and biological processes and also affect our capacity to understand these processes as surveys are routinely carried out using lit ships in the dark .
