scholarly journals Sounding the Arctic in Chantal Bilodeau’s Climate Change Plays

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-81
Author(s):  
Nassin W. Balestrini
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Address Climate Change ◽  
Musical Performances ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Performance Poetry ◽  
Traditional Songs ◽  
Long Term Impact

Quebec-born playwright Chantal Bilodeau has been responding to the challenges of dramatizing anthropogenic climate change by developing an eight-part Arctic Cycle, each play of which is set in one of the nations that claims Arctic territory. Sila (2014) immerses audiences into a complex network of humans, animals, and mythical beings crisscrossing the Canadian Arctic. These movements circle around the Inuit concept of sila, which is the life-giving force of breath and voice. Thus, the sonic world of Sila focuses on voices speaking words, on performance poetry, and on the sounds of breath and wind. Bilodeau’ s second Arctic Cycle play, Forward (2016), addresses the long-term impact of Fridtjof Nansen’s polar exploration of the 1890s on Norway’s economy and society. In terms of sound, Forward features multiple musical performances rangingfrom traditional songs to European opera arias and Lieder to contemporary Norwegian electro-pop. The sonic features of both plays stress interdependence across time, space, as well as (non-)human, earthly, and metaphysical realms. Sila and Forward address climate change in a non-universalizing manner which promotes a heterarchical (rather than hierarchical) aesthetic fit for a growing awareness of planetary relationality.

Contributions of traditional knowledge to understanding climate change in the Canadian Arctic

Polar Record ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 37 (203) ◽  
pp. 315-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dyanna Riedlinger ◽  
Fikret Berkes
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Climate History ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
The North ◽  
Weather And Climate ◽  
Unique Source

AbstractDespite much scientific research, a considerable amount of uncertainty exists concerning the rate and extent of climate change in the Arctic, and how change will affect regional climatic processes and northern ecosystems. Can an expanded scope of knowledge and inquiry augment understandings of climate change in the north? The extensive use of the land and the coastal ocean in Inuit communities provides a unique source of local environmental expertise that is guided by generations of experience. Environmental change associated with variations in weather and climate has not gone unnoticed by communities that are experiencing change firsthand. Little research has been done to explore the contributions of traditional knowledge to climate-change research. Based in part on a collaborative research project in Sachs Harbour, western Canadian Arctic, this paper discusses five areas in which traditional knowledge may complement scientific approaches to understanding climate change in the Canadian Arctic. These are the use of traditional knowledge as local-scale expertise; as a source of climate history and baseline data; in formulating research questions and hypotheses; as insight into impacts and adaptation in Arctic communities; and for long-term, communitybased monitoring. These five areas of potential convergence provide a conceptual framework for bridging the gap between traditional knowledge and western science, in the context of climate-change research.

scholarly journals Regional variability of acidification in the Arctic: a sea of contrasts

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. E. Popova ◽  
A. Yool ◽  
Y. Aksenov ◽  
A. C. Coward ◽  
T. R. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Primary Production ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Atmospheric Co2 ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Canadian Arctic Archipelago ◽  
Regional Variability ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The Arctic Ocean is a region that is particularly vulnerable to the impact of ocean acidification driven by rising atmospheric CO2, with potentially negative consequences for calcifying organisms such as coccolithophorids and foraminiferans. In this study, we use an ocean-only general circulation model, with embedded biogeochemistry and a comprehensive description of the ocean carbon cycle, to study the response of pH and saturation states of calcite and aragonite to rising atmospheric pCO2 and changing climate in the Arctic Ocean. Particular attention is paid to the strong regional variability within the Arctic, and, for comparison, simulation results are contrasted with those for the global ocean. Simulations were run to year 2099 using the RCP8.5 (an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) scenario with the highest concentrations of atmospheric CO2). The separate impacts of the direct increase in atmospheric CO2 and indirect effects via impact of climate change (changing temperature, stratification, primary production and freshwater fluxes) were examined by undertaking two simulations, one with the full system and the other in which atmospheric CO2 was prevented from increasing beyond its preindustrial level (year 1860). Results indicate that the impact of climate change, and spatial heterogeneity thereof, plays a strong role in the declines in pH and carbonate saturation (Ω) seen in the Arctic. The central Arctic, Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Baffin Bay show greatest rates of acidification and Ω decline as a result of melting sea ice. In contrast, areas affected by Atlantic inflow including the Greenland Sea and outer shelves of the Barents, Kara and Laptev seas, had minimal decreases in pH and Ω because diminishing ice cover led to greater vertical mixing and primary production. As a consequence, the projected onset of undersaturation in respect to aragonite is highly variable regionally within the Arctic, occurring during the decade of 2000–2010 in the Siberian shelves and Canadian Arctic Archipelago, but as late as the 2080s in the Barents and Norwegian seas. We conclude that, for future projections of acidification and carbonate saturation state in the Arctic, regional variability is significant and needs to be adequately resolved, with particular emphasis on reliable projections of the rates of retreat of the sea ice, which are a major source of uncertainty.

Pan-arctic glaciers volume changes over 1975-2019

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amaury Dehecq ◽  
Alex Gardner ◽  
Romain Hugonnet ◽  
Joaquin Belart
Keyword(s):  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Aerial Images ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Glacier Mass Balance ◽  
Russian Arctic ◽  
Elevation Change ◽  
Volume Changes ◽  
Arctic Regions ◽  
Digital Elevation

<p>Glaciers retreat contributed to about 1/3 of the observed sea level rise since 1971 (IPCC). However, long term estimates of glaciers volume changes rely on sparse field observations and region-wide satellite observations are available mostly after 2000. The now declassified images from the American reconnaissance satellite series Hexagon (KH-9), that acquired 6 m resolution stereoscopic images from 1971 to 1986, open new possibilities for glaciers observation.</p><p>Based on recently published methodology (Dehecq et al., 2020, doi: 10.3389/feart.2020.566802), we process all available KH-9 images over the Arctic (Canadian arctic, Iceland, Svalbard, Russian arctic) to generate Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and ortho-images for the period 1974-1980. We validate the KH-9 DEMs over Iceland against elevation derived from historical aerial images acquired within a month from the satellite acquisition.</p><p>Finally, we calculate the glacier elevation change between the historical DEMs and modern elevation obtained from a time series of ASTER stereo images and validated against ICESat-2 elevation. The geodetic glacier mass balance is calculated for all pan-Arctic regions and analyzed with reference to the last 20 years evolution.</p>

scholarly journals Global warming is changing the dynamics of Arctic host–parasite systems

2005 ◽  
Vol 272 (1581) ◽  
pp. 2571-2576 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.J Kutz ◽  
E.P Hoberg ◽  
L Polley ◽  
E.J Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Parasitic Nematode ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Domestic Animals ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Infectious Agents ◽  
Infection Pressure ◽  
Host Parasite ◽  
The Impact

Global climate change is altering the ecology of infectious agents and driving the emergence of disease in people, domestic animals, and wildlife. We present a novel, empirically based, predictive model for the impact of climate warming on development rates and availability of an important parasitic nematode of muskoxen in the Canadian Arctic, a region that is particularly vulnerable to climate change. Using this model, we show that warming in the Arctic may have already radically altered the transmission dynamics of this parasite, escalating infection pressure for muskoxen, and that this trend is expected to continue. This work establishes a foundation for understanding responses to climate change of other host–parasite systems, in the Arctic and globally.

Ancient sedimentary DNA reveals long-term impact of climate change on northern flora

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inger Alsos ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
Polar Urals ◽  
Rapid Responses ◽  
Long Term Impact

<p>Arctic and alpine species are disproportionally affected by climate change, and knowledge about their ability to survive or disperse is essential for their long-term conservation. Ancient sedimentary DNA (sedaDNA) has improved as a proxy for reconstructing past floras, and may now be applied in high throughput analyses. Our lab has analysed, or is in the process of analysing, sedaDNA from ~40 long (up to 26 000 years old) and 11 short (0-1000 years old) lake sediment cores from the Europe (Alps, Norway, Svalbard, Iceland, Polar Urals). Both general and site-specific patterns have emerged from these data. For example, the taxa recorded in sedaDNA often indicate a warmer climate than that which has been inferred based on pollen records; this is in concordance with macrofossil evidence. Also, the limits of past northern tree lines may have been underestimated based on pollen studies. Some heathland species, such as Vaccinium spp. and Empetrum, often show a time lag in arrival compared with other species with similar climatic requirements. Thus, despite the fact that they have berries and therefore are well adapted to long-distance dispersal by birds, our data show they are constrained from rapid responses to climate changes. Other patterns are site-specific. For example, we see a stepwise doubling of floristic richness from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene in the Polar Urals, which is barely detectable in the pollen analyses. Further, the majority of taxa with a mainly arctic-alpine distributions survived the early-Holocene climate warming, when shrub and trees entered the region, probably due to a very heterogeneous landscape that allows co-existence of species with different requirements. In contrast, arctic-alpine taxa disappear from the catchment a subset of the lakes studied in North Norway after shrub and forest expansion. Linking this type of information to characteristics of these biogeographic regions may provide useful when planning for future nature reserves. In the near future, the combination of many sites, complete DNA reference libraries, and emerging molecular methods will allow for the tracking of individual species through time and space.</p>

scholarly journals Green finance: Pandemic and climate change

2021 ◽  
Vol 234 ◽  
pp. 00042
Author(s):  
Igor Klioutchnikov ◽  
Oleg Kliuchnikov
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
Financial Industry ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Green Finance ◽  
People’S Attitudes ◽  
Long Term Impact ◽  
The Impact

In the last decade, green finance has become an important area of tackling the environmental threats associated with climate change and a prerequisite for sustainable development. The Covid-19 outbreak has drawn additional attention to green finance as an economic mechanism for creating healthy living environments. The article examines the impact of COVID-19 on the financial industry, the participation of green finance in the economic recovery after the pandemic in the direction of considering the Paris Agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The authors put forward the provision on the existence of causal relationships between the "green" financial and "green" economy: "green" finance (reason) is a mechanism for the formation of a "green" economy (consequence). The impact of green finance on society can be greatly enhanced through changes in lifestyles, the behaviour of people and companies, legislative initiatives and government decisions aimed at protecting the health and the environment; climate change and the pandemic have increased the overall fragility of development and created additional risks that are factored into green finance. The article substantiates the position that the global pandemic will have a long-term impact on people's attitudes towards the environment and on the financing of this area. As uncertainty grows about protecting people from disease and mitigating climate change, green finance may become the mainstream of finance.

scholarly journals Dynamic response of an Arctic epishelf lake to seasonal and long-term forcing: implications for ice shelf thickness

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew K. Hamilton ◽  
Bernard E. Laval ◽  
Derek R. Mueller ◽  
Warwick F. Vincent ◽  
Luke Copland
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Variation ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Ice Shelves ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
Long Term Changes ◽  
Episodic Mixing ◽  
Outflow Pathway

Abstract. Changes in the depth of the freshwater-seawater interface in epishelf lakes have been used to infer long-term changes in the thickness of ice shelves, however, little is known about the dynamics of epishelf lakes and what other factors may influence their depth. Continuous observations collected between 2011 and 2014 in the Milne Fiord epishelf lake, in the Canadian Arctic, showed that the depth of the halocline varied seasonally by up to 3.3 m, which was comparable to interannual variability. The seasonal depth variation was controlled by the magnitude of surface meltwater inflow and the hydraulics of the inferred outflow pathway, a narrow basal channel in the Milne Ice Shelf. When seasonal variation and an episodic mixing of the halocline were accounted for, long-term records of depth indicated there was no significant change in thickness of ice along the basal channel from 1983 to 2004, followed by a period of steady thinning at 0.50 m a-1 between 2004 and 2011. Rapid thinning at 1.15 m a-1 then occurred from 2011 to 2014, corresponded to a period of warming regional air temperatures. Continued warming is expected to lead to the breakup of the ice shelf and the imminent loss of the last known epishelf lake in the Arctic.

scholarly journals Perfect Storm: Climate Change and Tourism

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Serhan Cevik ◽  
Manuk Ghazanchyan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
International Tourism ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Climate Vulnerability ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Long Term Impact ◽  
Perfect Storm

Abstract While the world’s attention is on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change remains a greater existential threat to vulnerable countries that are highly dependent on a weather-sensitive sector like tourism. Using a multidimensional index, this study investigates the long-term impact of climate change vulnerability on international tourism in a panel of 15 Caribbean countries over the period 1995–2017. Empirical results show that climate vulnerability already has a statistically and economically significant negative effect on international tourism revenues across the region. As extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe over time, our findings indicate that the Caribbean countries need to invest more in adaptation and mitigation in order to reduce vulnerabilities.

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