AbstractIn this study we focus on late Holocene primaryproductivity (PP) variability in the western Barents Sea and itsresponse to variable sea ice coverage by combining PPreconstructed from several sediment cores with regional PPtrends simulated with a well-constrained organic faciesmodel, OF-Mod 3D. We find that modern production ratesreconstructed from buried marine organic matter (‘‘bottom-up’’) resemble simulated export production at 50 m waterdepth inferred from numerical simulations of surface waterPP in a 3D ocean model, SINMOD (‘‘top-down’’). Paleo-productivity rates in the northern Barents Sea are more vari-able and generally higher (30–150 gC m-2year-1)thaninthe SW Barents Sea region (\75 gC m-2year-1)throughoutthe last 6000 years BP. In the SW Barents Sea, PP rates andterrestrial organic matter (TOM) supply remain constantlylow indicating present-day-like oceanographic conditions