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The Greenland ice sheet is a vast body of ice covering 1,710,000 square kilometres (660,000 sq mi), roughly near 80% of the surface of Greenland. It is sometimes referred to as an ice cap, or under the term inland ice, or its Danish equivalent, indlandsis. The acronym GIS is frequently used in the scientific literature.
Chionoecetes is a genus of crabs that live in the northern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
Climate change affects the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. Changes in the climate system include an overall warming trend, more extreme weather and rising sea levels. These in turn impact nature and wildlife, as well as human settlements and societies. The effects of human-caused climate change are broad and far-reaching, especially if significant climate action is not taken. The projected and observed negative impacts of climate change are sometimes referred to as the climate crisis.
The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic. At present, eight countries exercise sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle, and these constitute the member states of the council: Canada; Denmark; Finland; Iceland; Norway; Russia; Sweden; and the United States. Other countries or national groups can be admitted as observer states, while organizations representing the concerns of indigenous peoples can be admitted as indigenous permanent participants.
The State of the Climate is an annual report that is primarily led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Climatic Data Center (NOAA/NCDC), located in Asheville, North Carolina, but whose leadership and authorship spans roughly 100 institutions in about 50 countries.
Arctic ecology is the scientific study of the relationships between biotic and abiotic factors in the arctic, the region north of the Arctic Circle. This region is characterized by stressful conditions as a result of extreme cold, low precipitation, a limited growing season and virtually no sunlight throughout the winter. The Arctic consists of taiga and tundra biomes, which also dominate very high elevations, even in the tropics. Sensitive ecosystems exist throughout the Arctic region, which are being impacted dramatically by global warming.
Major environmental issues caused by contemporary climate change in the Arctic region range from the well-known, such as the loss of sea ice or melting of the Greenland ice sheet, to more obscure, but deeply significant issues, such as permafrost thaw, as well as related social consequences for locals and the geopolitical ramifications of these changes. The Arctic is likely to be especially affected by climate change because of the high projected rate of regional warming and associated impacts. Temperature projections for the Arctic region were assessed in 2007: These suggested already averaged warming of about 2 °C to 9 °C by the year 2100. The range reflects different projections made by different climate models, run with different forcing scenarios. Radiative forcing is a measure of the effect of natural and human activities on the climate. Different forcing scenarios reflect things such as different projections of future human greenhouse gas emissions.
The climate of the Arctic is characterized by long, cold winters and short, cool summers. There is a large amount of variability in climate across the Arctic, but all regions experience extremes of solar radiation in both summer and winter. Some parts of the Arctic are covered by ice year-round, and nearly all parts of the Arctic experience long periods with some form of ice on the surface.
Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. The climate of Svalbard is principally a result of its latitude, which is between 74° and 81° north. Climate is defined by the World Meteorological Organization as the average weather over a 30-year period. The North Atlantic Current moderates Svalbard's temperatures, particularly during winter, giving it up to 20 °C (36 °F) higher winter temperature than similar latitudes in continental Russia and Canada. This keeps the surrounding waters open and navigable most of the year. The interior fjord areas and valleys, sheltered by the mountains, have fewer temperature differences than the coast, with about 2 °C lower summer temperatures and 3 °C higher winter temperatures. On the south of the largest island, Spitsbergen, the temperature is slightly higher than further north and west. During winter, the temperature difference between south and north is typically 5 °C, and about 3 °C in summer. Bear Island (Bjørnøya) has average temperatures even higher than the rest of the archipelago.
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Arctic Report Card presents annually updated, peer-reviewed information on recent observations of environmental conditions in the Arctic relative to historical records. The annual updates are released during a press conference at the December American Geophysical Society meeting. This annual report which measures the changes in climate can be used to predict the driving shifts in animal habitats and the local arctic ecosystem. The report categorised into three groups: Vital signs, Other Indicators and Frostbite.
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Kit Kovacs is a marine mammal researcher, best known for her work on biology, conservation and management of whales and seals. She is based at the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), Tromsø and is an Adjunct professor of biology, Marine Biology, at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS).
Climate change in Greenland is affecting the livelihood of the Greenlandic population. Geographically Greenland is situated between the Arctic and the Atlantic Ocean, with two thirds of the island being north of the Arctic Circle. Since the middle of the 20th century, the Arctic has been warming at about twice the global rate. Rising temperatures put increasing pressure on certain plant and tree species and contribute to Greenland's melting ice sheet. This affects and changes the livelihood of the Greenlandic population, particularly the Greenlandic Inuit, which make up to 80 percent of the total population. Besides the decline of fish stocks, the country's landscape is changing: the melting ice reveals minerals, oil and gas. This has attracted interest from local and foreign investors for potential resource extraction. As new industries are accompanied by new job opportunities and potential wealth, lifestyles are changing. Greenland is in transition, in terms of biophysical as well as cultural and social conditions.
CircumArctic Rangifer Monitoring and Assessment Network (CARMA) is a scientific research network, launched in 2004 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and funded by the Canadian International Polar Year (IPY) which focusses on the health of health "the North's migratory tundra caribou and wild reindeer populations" in the face of global change, with up to 80% declines of some herds of wild Rangifer since 2004. The collaborative research is undertaken by an international team of scientists, administrators and members of local community members, particularly Rangifer hunters who share a common interest in their survival.
The Arctic ringed seal is a subspecies of ringed seals. Arctic ringed seals inhabit the Arctic Ocean, and are the most abundant and wide-ranging seal in the Northern Hemisphere. The ringed seal species is the smallest true seal, and gets its name from a distinctive patterning of light spots on dark grey colored fur. The ringed seal is commonly preyed upon by Polar bears, Arctic foxes, and Killer whales. Population estimates and survival rates are unknown, but average life expectancy is 15-28 years. Ringed seals have long been a component of the diet of indigenous people of the Arctic. Arctic ringed seals have been listed as threatened on the Endangered Species Act since 2012, and increasingly face loss of their habitat due to shrinking ice and snow cover.
Jacob Sebastian Haugaard Mernild is a Danish professor in climate change, glaciology and hydrology, who is the pro-vice-chancellor of the University of Southern Denmark. Mernild has been an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) author for the United Nations since 2010. Initially a contributing author on the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, he was lead author on the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report.
Oleg Aleksandrovich Anisimov is a Russian climate scientist. Doctor of Science in Geography and Professor of Physical Geography at the State Hydrological Institute (SHI), part of the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring of Russia (Roshydromet) in Saint Petersburg. An expert on the impact of climate change on the Arctic region, he has acted as a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
References
- ↑ "Arctic Climate Impact Assessment". Archived from the original on 2010-12-14. Retrieved 2006-02-23.
- ↑ NOAA State of the Arctic Report 2006
- ↑ NOAA. Arctic Report Card. Updated annually.
- ↑ Sommerkorn, M.; O’Brien-Malone, M. (2008-04-24). "Climate change hitting Arctic faster, harder". panda.org. Archived from the original on 30 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
- ↑ "caff.is". caff.is. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ↑ "caff.is". caff.is. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ↑ "Arctic Biodiversity Assessment". www.ipbes.net. IPBES secretariat. 26 March 2019.
- ↑ "cbmp". Cbmp.is. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
