The Arctic: A Very Short Introduction

Author(s):  
Klaus Dodds ◽  
Jamie Woodward

The Arctic: A Very Short Introduction provides an account of the Arctic, its physical environment, and its people. The Arctic is demanding global attention as it warms, melts, and thaws in a manner that threatens not just its 4 million inhabitants, but the whole planet. The reduction of the Arctic to its changing environment would ignore the complexities of the region and its potential. This VSI explores key issues facing the region today, from geopolitics to global warming. It examines the causes and effects of cultural, physical, ecological, political, and economic change in the Arctic, and considers its uncertain future.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyung-Ju Park ◽  
Kwang-Yul Kim

AbstractEffect of global warming on the sub-seasonal variability of the Northern Hemispheric winter (NDJFM) Pacific storm-track (PST) activity has been investigated. Previous studies showed that the winter-averaged PST has shifted northward and intensified, which was explained in terms of energy exchange with the mean field. Effect of global warming exhibits spatio-temporal heterogeneity with predominance over the Arctic region and in the winter season. Therefore, seasonal averaging may hide important features on sub-seasonal scales. In this study, distinct sub-seasonal response in storm track activities to winter Northern Hemispheric warming is analyzed applying cyclostationary empirical orthogonal function analysis to ERA5 data. The key findings are as follows. Change in the PST is not uniform throughout the winter; the PST shifts northward in early winter (NDJ) and intensifies in late winter (FM). In early winter, the combined effect of weakened baroclinic process to the south of the climatological PST and weakened barotropic damping to the north is responsible for the northward shift. In late winter, both processes contribute to the amplification of the PST. Further, change in baroclinic energy conversion is quantitatively dominated by eddy heat flux, whereas axial tilting of eddies is primarily responsible for change in barotropic energy conversion. A close relationship between anomalous eddy heat flux and anomalous boundary heating, which is largely determined by surface turbulent heat flux, is also demonstrated.


Tellus B ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 391-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert J. Gabric ◽  
Bo Qu ◽  
Patricia Matrai ◽  
Anthony C. Hirst

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 325-333
Author(s):  
T. A. Mikhaylova

The morphological and anatomical features of the specimens of the brown alga Laminaria solidungula collected in the White Sea are provided. Environmental conditions for the growth and reproduction of this species in the White Sea are analyzed. The probable timing of penetration of this species into the White Sea and possible scenarios of changes in its distribution in response to global warming are discussed.


Transport ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurgita Barysienė ◽  
Nijolė Batarlienė ◽  
Darius Bazaras ◽  
Kristina Čižiūnienė ◽  
Daiva Griškevičienė ◽  
...  

The rapidly changing world determines changes in the business processes. Logistics and transport are the areas facing constant changes. Therefore, an important point is to analyse the current problems of logistics and transport within the context of the changing environment. For many years, the experts of the Dept of Logistics and Transport Management of the Faculty of Transport Engineering from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University have been pursuing research both, in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) in Lithuania and foreign countries. This research has been directed toward improvements to logistics and the entire supply chain in pursuit of economic, social and ecological competitiveness, an increase in the competitiveness and attractiveness of the transport system in the context of sustainable development, the impact of this system on the economic and social welfare of society, an increase in the competitiveness and attractiveness of the transport sector of improving the legal framework and the application of innovative technologies (including IT) in the transport sector aimed at implementing economic and social cohesion goals. The article deals with some of the key issues of the above introduced research.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  

In 2018 and 2019, the Arctic ice volume was increasing due to the reduction of SN1006 and V606 Aquilae heat delivering incoming debris stream particles or a decrease in strength. When the volume of ice on our planet was increasing in 2018-19, the planet was impacted by the new heat source of planetary nebula, PN, NGC 40. Currently the strength of PN NGC 40 is overcoming the loss of strength of the SN 1006 and V606 Aquilae and the Arctic ice volume started decreasing in March 2019. Particular longitude locations moving eastward from the initial impact point of PN NGC 40 show the effects of the PN NGC 40 hotspot passing over their locations. Shipping time through the Northeast Passage will increase for 2019 and for years thereafter. The ten-year measles outbreak that occurred from 1981 to 1991 will repeat for the period 2019 to 2029.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1494
Author(s):  
Fernanda Casagrande ◽  
Francisco A. B. Neto ◽  
Ronald B. de Souza ◽  
Paulo Nobre

One of the most visible signs of global warming is the fast change in the polar regions. The increase in Arctic temperatures, for instance, is almost twice as large as the global average in recent decades. This phenomenon is known as the Arctic Amplification and reflects several mutually supporting processes. An equivalent albeit less studied phenomenon occurs in Antarctica. Here, we used numerical climate simulations obtained from CMIP5 and CMIP6 to investigate the effects of +1.5, 2 and 3 °C warming thresholds for sea ice changes and polar amplification. Our results show robust patterns of near-surface air-temperature response to global warming at high latitudes. The year in which the average air temperatures brought from CMIP5 and CMIP6 models rises by 1.5 °C is 2024. An average rise of 2 °C (3 °C) global warming occurs in 2042 (2063). The equivalent warming at northern (southern) high latitudes under scenarios of 1.5 °C global warming is about 3 °C (1.8 °C). In scenarios of 3 °C global warming, the equivalent warming in the Arctic (Antarctica) is close to 7 °C (3.5 °C). Ice-free conditions are found in all warming thresholds for both the Arctic and Antarctica, especially from the year 2030 onwards.


Author(s):  
Susan Green ◽  
Dr. Michael Krop

Photographic surveys have been used since the early 1940’s to document coastlines, fuel supplies and river courses. The US Navy, post world war II, flew over the Arctic coast to document possible locations for oil extraction. These very same photos are now being utilized to compare changes in tundra vegetation at the same locations today. John Muirs’ photos of Glacier Bay are a startling testament to the melted glaciers no longer visible from the same vantage point in present times. Taking photographs to monitor change may not tell the entire story behind a change in landscape. However, photos taken over a number of years from the same vantage points, can help monitor landscape changes due to habitat fragmentation, global warming, forest fire, cattle grazing and other land management issues. Photo monitoring is inexpensive, simple and can portray change to many different groups. Of course, photos taken to reveal change must start with documenting current or normal conditions. This is sometimes called baseline monitoring. The park ranger in Glacier National Park did not realize when he took his picture of the Grinnell glacier in 1911 that his photo would become an alarming baseline photo for evidence of global warming. The purpose of this project was to document the Snake River headwater basin and its riparian zones as a document in time for future reference. The original documentation included 48 images of two main headwater areas; the Shoshone and Lewis Lake areas and the Fox Park-Two Ocean Bear Management Areas near the Yellowstone Park border. Since the Shoshone-Lewis lakes are easily assessable and photo space here is limited, I have chosen to only use photos from the more remote areas.


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