Environmental Change in the Arctic and Antarctic

2014 ◽  
pp. 245-261
Author(s):  
Marianne S.V. Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
The Arctic

scholarly journals Using the Arctic water resources vulnerability index in assessing and responding to environmental change in Alaskan communities

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 19-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Williams ◽  
Andrew Kliskey ◽  
Molly McCarthy ◽  
Richard Lammers ◽  
Lilian Alessa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Water ◽  
Water Resources Vulnerability

Late Holocene glacier and climate reconstruction from proglacial records in Vatnsdalur, northern Iceland.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantin Nebel ◽  
Timothy Lane ◽  
Kathryn Adamson ◽  
Iestyn Barr ◽  
Willem van der Bilt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
Arctic Climate ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
Proglacial Lake

<p>The Arctic region is experiencing surface air temperature increase of twice the global average. To better understand Holocene Arctic climate variability, there is the need for continuous, high-resolution palaeoclimate archives. Sediment cores from proglacial lakes can provide such climate archives, and have the potential to record past environmental change in detail.       </p><p>Vatnsdalur, a valley in northern Iceland, hosts small, climatically sensitive cirque glaciers that became independent from the Iceland Ice Sheet after its retreat following the Last Glacial Maximum (c. 15 ka BP). Importantly, this region is located at the confluence of warm water and air masses from the south and cold polar water and air masses from the north, making it highly sensitive to North Atlantic and Arctic climate change. However, at present the region is highly understudied, lacking any high-resolution climate reconstructions.           </p><p>To address this, we combine geomorphological mapping with the first high-resolution analysis of proglacial lake sediments, to thoroughly examine northern Iceland Late Holocene environmental change.</p><p>Field mapping supplemented by high-resolution drone data was used to characterise catchment geomorphology, including seven Holocene moraines. A sediment core (SKD-P1-18) from proglacial lake Skeiðsvatn, Vatnsdalur, was analysed for sedimentological (dry bulk density, loss-on-ignition, grain size), geophysical (magnetic susceptibility) and geochemical (X-ray fluorescence core scan, 2 mm resolution) parameters.             <br>We identify three main sedimentary facies from these analyses, indicating variations in glacial input and catchment environmental conditions. Radiocarbon dating of lake macrofossils, supplemented by tephrochronology, provides a chronological framework. Catchment point samples, also analysed using the above analytical techniques, were used for sediment fingerprinting to disentangle non-glacial from glacial end-members.</p><p>Our results indicate the disappearance and reformation of small, climatically sensitive cirque glaciers in Vatnsdalur during the Holocene. We interpret the data to show an abrupt return to a glaciated catchment. Our results fill a geographical gap of high-resolution proglacial sediment studies in the Arctic-North Atlantic region.</p>

scholarly journals Arctic (in)security and Indigenous peoples: Comparing Inuit in Canada and Sámi in Norway

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 461-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilfrid Greaves
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Related Field ◽  
Security Issues

While international relations has increasingly begun to recognize the political salience of Indigenous peoples, the related field of security studies has not significantly incorporated Indigenous peoples either theoretically or empirically. This article helps to address this gap by comparing two Arctic Indigenous peoples – Inuit in Canada and Sámi in Norway – as ‘securitizing actors’ within their respective states. It examines how organizations representing Inuit and Sámi each articulate the meaning of security in the circumpolar Arctic region. It finds that Inuit representatives have framed environmental and social challenges as security issues, identifying a conception of Arctic security that emphasizes environmental protection, preservation of cultural identity, and maintenance of Indigenous political autonomy. While there are some similarities between the two, Sámi generally do not employ securitizing language to discuss environmental and social issues, rarely characterizing them as existential issues threatening their survival or wellbeing. Drawing on securitization theory, this article proposes three factors to explain why Inuit have sought to construct serious challenges in the Arctic as security issues while Sámi have not: ecological differences between the Canadian and Norwegian Arctic regions, and resulting differences in experience of environmental change; the relative degree of social inclusion of Inuit and Sámi within their non-Indigenous majority societies; and geography, particularly the proximity of Norway to Russia, which results in a more robust conception of national security that restricts space for alternative, non-state security discourses. This article thus links recent developments in security studies and international relations with key trends in Indigenous politics, environmental change, and the geopolitics of the Arctic region.

Environmental Change at High Latitudes

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 169-179
Author(s):  
Marianne S. V. Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Environmental Variables ◽  
Thermal Stratification ◽  
Transfer Functions ◽  
Warming Trend ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Growing Season Length ◽  
Nutrient Additions ◽  
Antarctic Diatoms

Paleolimnological techniques have been used successfully to reconstruct environmental change in the Arctic and Antarctic. Diatoms are powerful indicators of environmental change because their community composition responds to changes in environmental conditions. As more regional diatom calibrations throughout the high latitude regions are achieved, the autecology of diatom taxa can be quantified and transfer functions for the driving environmental variables developed. In most instances, environmental variables related to physical, chemical, and climate-related characteristics are the main drivers affecting diatom distribution across polar aquatic bodies. A decline in ice cover and increase in growing season length results in an increase in diatom diversity as well as increased productivity, and increased thermal stratification in lakes (vs. shallow ponds). Because the siliceous cell wall preserves well in sediments, diatoms are among the most commonly used organisms used in paleolimnological analyses. Polar latitudes are experiencing amplification of the current global warming trend and as such, analyses of diatoms from high latitude lake and pond sediments are revealing the timing and extent of these trends. Diatom-based paleolimnological analyses are also being used to track the environmental impact of excess nutrient additions to lakes. Similar findings have also been reported from marine ecosystems.

3. Arctic ecosystems

2021 ◽  
pp. 39-62
Author(s):  
Klaus Dodds ◽  
Jamie Woodward
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Nutrient Supply ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
High Latitudes ◽  
Arctic Ecosystems ◽  
Arctic Vegetation ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
The Arctic Ocean

‘Arctic ecosystems’ highlights the treeless landscapes that fringe the Arctic Ocean, in which the diversity of plants is low, nutrient supply is limited, and soil depth is constrained by permafrost. The aim is to capture some of the key characteristics of the Arctic biome in the past and present. How do ecosystems function in the northern high latitudes? How have they responded to the recent environmental change? Arctic vegetation is grouped into twenty-one provinces based on various characteristics including relative uniformity of species and number of endemics. High fluctuation in animal populations is a key feature of the Arctic biome.

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