scholarly journals On the oribatid and mesostigmatid mites (Acari) of the High Arctic island of Hopen

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Coulson ◽  
Heinrich Schatz ◽  
Dariusz J. Gwiazdowicz ◽  
Torstein Solhøy
Keyword(s):  
High Arctic ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Invertebrate Fauna ◽  
Terrestrial Invertebrates ◽  
The North ◽  
Limited Sampling ◽  
Important Region ◽  
Taxonomic Confusion ◽  
Museums And Collections ◽  
Northern Russia

AbstractThe archipelago of Svalbard in the European High Arctic lies on the convergence of the Palaearctic and Nearctic flora and fauna and contains elements of both regions. The island of Hopen is located in the south east of the archipelago within the path of the cold south−westerly flowing East Svalbard Current originating in the Arctic ocean and flowing along the north Russian coast. This current is postulated as a colonization route of the invertebrate fauna of Svalbard. Few reports of the terrestrial invertebrates of Hopen exist and none of the mite suborders Oribatida or Mesostigmata. With the taxonomic confusion existing in the inventories of this important region of the Arctic, new sampling campaigns with species identified by modern taxonomic principles and with material deposited in accessible museums and collections are essential. Identified mites included six species of oribatid mites with Diapterobates notatus dominating, and five species of Mesostigmata with Zercon forsslundi forming the dominant species. None of the species collected was a new record for Svalbard and all have wide circumpolar, Palaearctic or Holarctic distributions. Dispersal to Svalbard from northern Russia is hence neither supported nor rejected. The expected oribatid and mesostigmatid diversity of the island is greater than observed from the limited sampling described here.

scholarly journals Dynamics of Ice-Island Motion Near the Coast of Axel Heiberg Island, Canadian High Arctic

1989 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 152-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.M. Sackinger ◽  
M.O. Jeffries ◽  
H. Tippens ◽  
F. Li ◽  
M. Lu
Keyword(s):  
Surface Wind ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Movement Direction ◽  
Canadian High Arctic ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Pack Ice ◽  
Axel Heiberg Island ◽  
Ice Force

The largest ice island presently known to exist in the Arctic Ocean has a mass of about 700 × 106 tonnes, an area of about 26 km2, and a mean thickness of 42.5 m. Known as Hobson’s Ice Island, this large ice feature has been tracked almost continuously since August 1983 with a succession of Argos buoys. In this paper, two particular ice-island movement episodes near the north-west coast of Axel Heiberg Island are described: 6–16 May 1986 and 14–21 June 1986. Each movement episode is analyzed in terms of the forces acting on the ice island, including wind shear, water drag, water shear, Coriolis force, sea-surface tilt, and pack-ice force. Ice-island movement is generally preceded by an offshore surface wind, and a threshold wind speed of 6 m s°1 appears to be necessary to initiate ice-island motion. An angle of 50° between surface wind and ice-island movement direction is noted during one episode. The pack-ice force, which appears to be the dominant arresting factor of ice-island motion for these two episodes, varies from 100° to 180° to the left of the ice-island velocity direction, depending upon whether the ice island is accelerating or decelerating.

The Early Exploration of Greenland

1991 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-258
Author(s):  
Jørgen Taagholt
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
North Pole ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Northwest Passage ◽  
The North ◽  
New Information ◽  
Early Exploration ◽  
Southwest Greenland

About 4000 years ago the first immigration of Inuit tribes explorated Greenland, and about 1000 years ago the Norsemen explorated southwest Greenland; and Icelandic sagas describe every-day life. The early search for the Northwest Passage years ago was followed by intensive whaling during 17th and 18th centuries. The connection between Greenland and Scandinavia was re-established by Hans Egede, who started his missionary and explorationary activity in 1721, whereafter polymaths from Denmark and other countries contributed to our scientific knowledge. Several attempts to reach the North Pole resulted in new information about the High Arctic Greenland, while local Inuit, such as Hans Hendrik, played an important role in several expeditions in the Arctic. The growing Danish and foreign scientific expeditions led to the Danish government establishing in 1878 established the Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland, whose mandate was to coordinate such research.

Seasonal change and microhabitat association of Arctic spider assemblages (Arachnida: Araneae) on Victoria Island (Nunavut, Canada)

2017 ◽  
Vol 149 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elyssa R. Cameron ◽  
Christopher M. Buddle
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Change ◽  
Ecological Monitoring ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Ecosystems ◽  
Active Season ◽  
The North ◽  
Arthropod Predators ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
Victoria Island

AbstractArctic ecosystems are characterised by a mosaic of distinct microhabitats, which play a key role in structuring biodiversity. Understanding species diversity in relation to these microhabitats, and how communities are structured seasonally, is imperative to properly conserve, monitor, and manage northern biodiversity. Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) are dominant arthropod predators in the Arctic, yet the seasonal change in their communities in relation to microhabitat variation is relatively unknown. This research quantified how spider assemblages are structured seasonally and by microhabitat, near Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada. In 2014, spiders were collected in 240 pan and pitfall traps placed in common microhabitat types (two wet and two dry) from 3 July to 11 August, the active season in the high Arctic. In total, 10 353 spiders from 22 species and four families were collected. Non-metric multidimensional scaling ordinations revealed that spider assemblages from wet habitats were distinct from those occurring in drier habitats, but that differences within each of those habitats were not evident. Abundance and diversity was highest in wet habitats and differed significantly from dry habitats; both these variables decreased seasonally. Spider assemblages in the north are structured strongly along moisture gradients, and such data informs planning for future ecological monitoring in the Arctic.

scholarly journals Tracking of Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea reveals longest animal migration

2010 ◽  
Vol 107 (5) ◽  
pp. 2078-2081 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Egevang ◽  
Iain J. Stenhouse ◽  
Richard A. Phillips ◽  
Aevar Petersen ◽  
James W. Fox ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Arctic ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Seasonal Movement ◽  
The North ◽  
Breeding Populations ◽  
Flight Costs ◽  
Sterna Paradisaea ◽  
And Performance

The study of long-distance migration provides insights into the habits and performance of organisms at the limit of their physical abilities. The Arctic tern Sterna paradisaea is the epitome of such behavior; despite its small size (<125 g), banding recoveries and at-sea surveys suggest that its annual migration from boreal and high Arctic breeding grounds to the Southern Ocean may be the longest seasonal movement of any animal. Our tracking of 11 Arctic terns fitted with miniature (1.4-g) geolocators revealed that these birds do indeed travel huge distances (more than 80,000 km annually for some individuals). As well as confirming the location of the main wintering region, we also identified a previously unknown oceanic stopover area in the North Atlantic used by birds from at least two breeding populations (from Greenland and Iceland). Although birds from the same colony took one of two alternative southbound migration routes following the African or South American coast, all returned on a broadly similar, sigmoidal trajectory, crossing from east to west in the Atlantic in the region of the equatorial Intertropical Convergence Zone. Arctic terns clearly target regions of high marine productivity both as stopover and wintering areas, and exploit prevailing global wind systems to reduce flight costs on long-distance commutes.

Arctic Lower-Tropospheric Warm and Cold Extremes: Horizontal and Vertical Transport, Diabatic Processes, and Linkage to Synoptic Circulation Features

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 993-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas Papritz
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Temperature Anomaly ◽  
Storm Track ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
The North ◽  
Diabatic Processes ◽  
Synoptic Circulation ◽  
Cold Extremes

AbstractThe thermodynamic processes and synoptic circulation features driving lower-tropospheric temperature extremes in the high Arctic (>80°N) are investigated. Based on 10-day kinematic backward trajectories from the 5% most intense potential temperature anomalies, the contributions of horizontal and vertical transport, subsidence-induced warming, and diabatic processes to the generation of the Arctic temperature anomaly are quantified. Cold extremes are mainly the result of sustained radiative cooling due to a sheltering of the Arctic from meridional airmass exchanges. This is linked to a strengthening of the tropospheric polar vortex, a reduced frequency of high-latitude blocking, and in winter also a southward shift of the North Atlantic storm track. The temperature anomaly of 60% of wintertime extremely warm air masses (90% in summer) is due to transport from a potentially warmer region. Subsidence from the Arctic midtroposphere in blocking anticyclones is the most important warming process with the largest contribution in summer (70% of extremely warm air masses). In both seasons, poleward transport of already warm air masses contributes around 20% and is favored by a poleward shift of the North Atlantic storm track. Finally, about 40% of the air masses in winter are of an Arctic origin and experience diabatic heating by surface heat fluxes in marine cold air outbreaks. Our study emphasizes the importance of processes in the Arctic and the relevance of anomalous blocking—in winter in the Barents, Kara, and Laptev Seas and in summer in the high Arctic—for the formation of warm extremes.

The Grenville–Sveconorwegian orogen in the high Arctic

2012 ◽  
Vol 149 (5) ◽  
pp. 875-891 ◽  
Author(s):  
HENNING LORENZ ◽  
DAVID G. GEE ◽  
ALEXANDER N. LARIONOV ◽  
JAROSLAW MAJKA
Keyword(s):  
High Arctic ◽  
Detrital Zircons ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Novaya Zemlya ◽  
The North ◽  
Long Distance Transport ◽  
Continental Shelves ◽  
Mountain Belts ◽  
Sveconorwegian Orogen

AbstractThroughout the high Arctic, from northern Canada (Pearya) to eastern Greenland, Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Taimyr and Severnaya Zemlya and, at lower Arctic latitudes, in the Urals and the Scandinavian Caledonides, there is evidence of the Grenville–Sveconorwegian Orogen. The latest orogenic phase (c. 950 Ma) is well exposed in the Arctic, but only minor Mesoproterozoic fragments of this orogen occur on land. However, detrital zircons in Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic successions provide unambiguous Mesoproterozoic to earliest Neoproterozoic (c. 950 Ma) signatures. This evidence strongly suggests that the Grenville–Sveconorwegian Orogen continues northwards from type areas in southeastern Canada and southwestern Scandinavia, via the North Atlantic margins to the high Arctic continental shelves. The widespread distribution of late Mesoproterozoic detrital zircons far to the north of the Grenville–Sveconorwegian type areas is usually explained in terms of long-distance transport (thousands of kilometres) of either sediments by river systems from source to sink, or of slices of lithosphere (terranes) moved on major transcurrent faults. Both of these interpretations involve much greater complexity than the hypothesis favoured here, the former involving recycling of the zircons from the strata of initial deposition into those of their final residence and the latter requiring a diversity of microcontinents. Neither explains either the fragmentary evidence for the presence of Grenville–Sveconorwegian terranes in the high Arctic, or the composition of the basement of the continental shelves. The presence of the Grenville–Sveconorwegian Orogen in the Arctic, mainly within the hinterland and margins of the Caledonides and Timanides, has profound implications not only for the reconstructions of the Rodinia supercontinent in early Neoproterozoic time, but also the origin of these Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic mountain belts.

scholarly journals Decadal Variability in the Impact of Atmospheric Circulation Patterns on the Winter Climate of Northern Russia

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 1005-1021
Author(s):  
Gareth J. Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Temporal Consistency ◽  
Atmospheric Circulation Patterns ◽  
The North ◽  
Dominant Pattern ◽  
Circulation Patterns ◽  
Northern Russia ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe Arctic continues to warm at a much faster rate than the global average. One process contributing to “Arctic amplification” involves changes in low-frequency macroscale atmospheric circulation patterns and their consequent influence on regional climate. Here, using ERA5 data, we examine decadal changes in the impact of seven such patterns on winter near-surface temperature (SAT) and precipitation (PPN) in northern Russia and calculate the temporal consistency of any statistically significant relationships. We demonstrate that the 40-yr climatology hides considerable decadal variability in the spatial extent of such circulation pattern–climate relationships across the region, with few areas where their temporal consistency exceeds 60%. This is primarily a response to the pronounced decadal expansion/contraction and/or mobility of the circulation patterns’ centers of action. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is the dominant pattern (having the highest temporal consistency) affecting SAT west of the Urals. Farther east, the Scandinavian (SCA), Polar/Eurasian (POL), and West Pacific patterns are successively the dominant pattern influencing SAT across the West Siberian Plains, Central Siberian Plateau, and mountains of Far East Siberia, respectively. From west to east, the SCA, POL, and Pacific–North American patterns exert the most consistent decadal influence on PPN. The only temporally invariant significant decadal relationships occur between the NAO and SAT and the SCA and PPN in small areas of the North European Plain.

scholarly journals Snowfall and Oxygen-Isotope Variations off the North Coast of Ellesmere Island, N.W.T., Canada

1987 ◽  
Vol 33 (114) ◽  
pp. 195-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin O. Jeffries ◽  
H. Roy Krouse
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Geographic Region ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
North Coast ◽  
Snow Pack ◽  
The North ◽  
Winter Snow ◽  
The Mean

AbstractSnow-pack along the land-fast ice fringe off the north coast of Ellesmere Island was generally characterized by depth-hoar overlain by dense snow and wind slab. Mean snow depth in the study area was 0.54 m (1982-85) and the mean δ18O value of the snow-pack was -31.3˚/00. Isotope data were not obtained previously for this geographic region and, therefore, complement a previous study of δ18O variations in High Arctic snow (Koerner, 1979). The data are consistent with an Arctic Ocean moisture source. The δ18O profiles show seasonal variations, with winter snow being more depleted in 18O than fall and spring snow. However, the δ18O profiles are dominated by a trend to higher δ18O values with increasing depth. This is attributed to a decrease in δ18O values as condensation temperatures fall during the autumn-winter accumulation period. During this time, there is also a change from relatively open to almost complete ice cover in the Arctic Ocean. The change in evaporation conditions and consequent effect on δ values gives rise to a sharp discontinuity in the δ18O profiles and a bi-modal δ18O frequency distribution. The bi-modal distribution is reinforced by a secondary isotope fractionation that occurs during depth-hoar formation. This isotope effect leads to a wider δ18O range but does not significantly alter the mean δ18O value.

The mesostigmatid mite (Acari: Parasitiformes) fauna of Svalbard: a revised inventory of a high Arctic archipelago

Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 3091 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARÍA LUISA ÁVILA-JIMÉNEZ ◽  
DARIUSZ J. GWIAZDOWICZ ◽  
STEPHEN JAMES COULSON
Keyword(s):  
Current Knowledge ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Invertebrate Fauna ◽  
Svalbard Archipelago ◽  
Species Ranges ◽  
Fresh Material ◽  
Important Region ◽  
Island Group ◽  
Slide Material

The need for comprehensive studies of the invertebrate fauna in the high Arctic is increasingly acknowledged in order to more fully understand ecosystem functioning, resilience and to project future changes in the biodiversity and species ranges. Information on the mesostigmatid fauna in the high Arctic is scarce and scattered. Large regions of the high Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, including most of the areas in the east of the island group, have never been surveyed for the mesostigmatid fauna. Furthermore, most of the current knowledge on the mesostigmatid fauna of this important region in the European high Arctic originates from studies in the early 20 th century. Much of the associated slide material no longer exists, either being mislaid or deliberately destroyed, resulting in an ambiguous and potentially misleading mesostigmatid fauna checklist in which identifications and potential synonyms cannot be reliably assessed. Determination of fresh material sampled between 2007–2010 may be an ideal procedure to resolve the great number of uncertainties about the mesostigmatid fauna of the Svalbard archipelago. Twelve out of the 27 species recorded from the Svalbard archipelago were found in the new samples collected from a large number of localities and microhabitats. No new species were identified in the current campaign, and most of the non-observed species are considered to be past missidentifications or potential synonyms. Combining this study with recent publications provides a total mesostigmatid mite diversity for Svalbard of 22 species. This represents the most accurate checklist of the mesostigmatid mite fauna of the archipelago to date.

The Lepidoptera of Greenland; Some Geographic Considerations

1966 ◽  
Vol 98 (11) ◽  
pp. 1135-1144 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Downes
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Oceanic Island ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
The North ◽  
Almost All

AbstractFrom the revised list of the Lepidoptera of Greenland and from recent work in Ellesmere Island it is shown that almost all the species found in high arctic Canada occur also in Greenland, predominantly in the north, and that this high arctic element constitutes a large fraction of the fauna of Greenland as a whole. It is suggested that this part of the fauna originated entirely from the nearctic by the little-interrupted land route across the arctic islands. The poverty of southerly Lepidoptera in Greenland stands in sharp contrast. It is illustrated by a comparison with the vascular plants and by other comparisons with the Lepidoptera found in the corresponding life zones in North America, and this section of the paper includes the first published list of the Lepidoptera of Baffin Island. It is suggested that this southerly fauna is of adventitious origin, by casual dispersal from overseas (Labrador, Iceland) or perhaps in a few cases by introduction by man. Thus Greenland, in respect of its fauna of southerly type, is an oceanic island of post-glacial age. Similar evidence suggests that Iceland also has been populated mainly in the same way. The conclusions derived from the Lepidoptera apply to several other groups of insects and also to the mammals, including man.

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