IASC Working Groups funded activities often result in scientific publications important for the Arctic scientific community. Here you can find a list of publication and its IASC-related activity.
Click on the titles to read more.
2020
IASC Member Country Survey A letter submitted by the Social & Human Working Group considering disparities in support of Working Group members was submitted to the Council in 2018 for discussion at Polar2018. To address the issues presented in the letter it was decided to send out a survey on how IASC Working Group and Council members are selected and supported. All 23 IASC member countries provided responses to the survey. The results – including both the most common responses as well as unique answers and anecdotes – are provided here. This report also aims to build norms within the IASC community, and so common responses and best practices are specifically highlighted. It is intentionally brief to facilitate its uptake. IASC member countries are asked to take these best practices back to their countries for consideration in order to build more equality and engagement in IASC.
T-MOSAiC—A new circumpolar collaboration The project ‘Terrestrial Multidisciplinary distributed Observatories for the Study of Arctic Connections’ (https://www.t-mosaic.com/) has been formulated as an international, circumpolar initiative cutting across all five disciplinary working groups of IASC. Its aim is to generate new insights into the changing Arctic, targeting key system-level topics such as gradients, connectivity, thresholds, extreme events, discontinuities and emergent properties, and with hypotheses and questions that extend across sites and disciplines. MOSAiC and T-MOSAiC are complementary projects, with points of intersection as shown in the diagram. IASC Related Activity:
Permafrost Collapse is Accelerating Carbon Release INTRODUCTION: This much is clear: the Arctic is warming fast, and frozen soils are starting to thaw, often for the first time in thousands of years. But how this happens is as murky as the mud that oozes from permafrost when ice melts. As the temperature of the ground rises above freezing, microorganisms break down organic matter in the soil. Greenhouse gases — including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide — are released into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming. Soils in the permafrost region hold twice as much carbon as the atmosphere does — almost 1,600 billion tonnes. IASC Related Activity:
Understanding the Terrestrial Effects of Arctic Sea Ice Decline ABSTRACT: The ongoing loss of Arctic sea ice is likely to have wide-ranging effects on northern lands. The International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) has responded to the urgent need for an improved understanding of these effects by initiating the circumpolar project Terrestrial Multidisciplinary distributed Observatories for the Study of Arctic Connections (T-MOSAiC). This project, which is linked to the IASC oceanographic project Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC), addresses the question, What are the implications of changing sea ice, oceanography, and climate of Arctic seas for the surrounding land-based geosystems, ecosystems, and human systems? IASC Related Activity: Land Improvement Under Conditions of Permafrost: Melioratsiia and Intended Forms of Environmental Change in Soviet Yakutia ABSTRACT: Against the background of current debates on environmental change and permafrost degradation in the (Sub-)Arctic, this article looks into the agricultural history of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), one of the federal subjects in the Far East of Russia. In particular, the authors examine the development of land improvement (or land amelioration, melioratsiia) in the republic's central part during the Soviet period. The region is often described as unique, owing to its cattle and horse pastoralism along with crop cultivation under conditions of an extremely cold and generally dry climate. Relying mainly on documents retrieved from regional archives, the paper starts with an explication of the categories used by melioratsiia experts themselves, which permits an understanding of the management, success stories, and failures of land-improvement techniques. Notwithstanding scientific recommendations on land engineering in permafrost regions, documents from the 1980s reported increasing problems with maintenance of irrigation systems along with permafrost degradation and soil subsidence. The conclusion of the article offers a potential explanation for the neglect of research on agricultural land improvement in social sciences' and environmental sciences' research on northern, subarctic regions of Russia. IASC Related Activities:
Permafrost Zone Soils and the Traditional Land Use of the Aboriginal Populations of North-Eastern European Russia and Western Siberia: Research Problem Statement ABSTRACT: In this paper, ethnographic material on the Komi reindeer herders of eastern Bolshezemelskaya tundra and the Nenets reindeer herders of southern Gydan Peninsula is used to show how soil processes, which take place in the cryolithozone, can affect the life and economic practices of reindeer herding groups. It is demonstrated that such an impact can be direct as well as indirect. The direct impact consists, for example, in the influence of the permafrost on soil denaturing and, therefore, on the thixotropic properties of the soil. This affects the probability and the speed of soil turning into mud under the mechanical influence of reindeer trampling. Herders have to consider this probability and consider speeds of movement of the herd when they choose a camping place, plan the duration of their stay in this place and perform certain herding operations (e.g. rounding up the herd). The indirect impact continues through the permafrost’s role in the microlandscape formation as well as through its influence on vegetation. The both play an important role in determining reindeer behaviour and affect the way tundra can be navigated on a reindeer sledge. The manner and degree to which these impacts influence reindeer herding practices depend on the herding technology, which differs between the two ethnic groups. Another example of the indirect impact can be seen in the huge role thermokarst processes play in the formation and change of tundra aquasystems. The formation of thermokarst lakes, their draining and formation of dry lake reservoirs with their typical hyperproductivity of biomass poses both challenges and new possibilities for reindeer herding. The relationship between permafrost soil processes and reindeer herding practices should be considered in order to allow a more accurate assessment of the consequences ongoing climatic change can have for the life and economy of northern aboriginals. Therefore, a study of this relationship represents a valid scientific topic crossing the borders between biology, geology and cultural anthropology. IASC Related Activities: Permafrost dynamics and indigenous land use in the Northern Urals: Combining insights of local land users, environmental and social scientists
Introduction: Feminist Approaches and the Study of Gender in Arctic Social Sciences ABSTRACT: Notwithstanding the gradual intensification of contacts across the different parts of the circumpolar North, research on gender in the Arctic is still a fragmented field – not the least because of language barriers. The four cases presented here, all from the Far North of Russia, are intended to complement research on gender in North America and the Nordic countries. We also hope they will encourage wider use of feminist approaches in geography and social sciences. After a first overview of how gender emerged as a topic of study in the circumpolar North, the introduction will focus on gender-specific forms of mobility and immobility. Next, gender will be discussed in relation to identity and intersectionality under colonial and post-colonial conditions. Thereafter, Feminist Political Ecology and other theoretical directions are portrayed as theoretical approaches to studying gendered economies. Such contextualization of the study of gender in the Arctic prepares the ground for short summaries of the four papers in this special issue, to be concluded by a brief statement about future directions of research. Particularly the concept of intersectionality is favored as a useful basis for examining gender, indigeneity, and economic differences. IASC Related Activity: Gender Asymmetries in Northern Communities: Perspectives from the Margins
Dependence of the evolution of carbon dynamics in the Northern Permafrost Region on the trajectory of climate change Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ABSTRACT: We conducted a model-based assessment of changes in permafrost area and carbon storage for simulations driven by RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 projections between 2010 and 2299 for the northern permafrost region. All models simulating carbon represented soil with depth, a critical structural feature needed to represent the permafrost carbon–climate feedback, but that is not a universal feature of all climate models. Between 2010 and 2299, simulations indicated losses of permafrost between 3 and 5 million km2 for the RCP4.5 climate and between 6 and 16 million km2 for the RCP8.5 climate. For the RCP4.5 projection, cumulative change in soil carbon varied between 66-Pg C (1015-g carbon) loss to 70-Pg C gain. For the RCP8.5 projection, losses in soil carbon varied between 74 and 652 Pg C (mean loss, 341 Pg C). For the RCP4.5 projection, gains in vegetation carbon were largely responsible for the overall projected net gains in ecosystem carbon by 2299 (8- to 244-Pg C gains). In contrast, for the RCP8.5 projection, gains in vegetation carbon were not great enough to compensate for the losses of carbon projected by four of the five models; changes in ecosystem carbon ranged from a 641-Pg C loss to a 167-Pg C gain (mean, 208-Pg C loss). The models indicate that substantial net losses of ecosystem carbon would not occur until after 2100. This assessment suggests that effective mitigation efforts during the remainder of this century could attenuate the negative consequences of the permafrost carbon–climate feedback IASC Related Activity:
Reviews and Syntheses: Changing Ecosystem Influences on Soil Thermal Regimes in Northern High-Latitude Permafrost Regions ABSTRACT: Soils in Arctic and boreal ecosystems store twice as much carbon as the atmosphere, a portion of which may be released as high-latitude soils warm. Some of the uncertainty in the timing and magnitude of the permafrost–climate feedback stems from complex interactions between ecosystem properties and soil thermal dynamics. Terrestrial ecosystems fundamentally regulate the response of permafrost to climate change by influencing surface energy partitioning and the thermal properties of soil itself. Here we review how Arctic and boreal ecosystem processes influence thermal dynamics in permafrost soil and how these linkages may evolve in response to climate change. While many of the ecosystem characteristics and processes affecting soil thermal dynamics have been examined individually (e.g., vegetation, soil moisture, and soil structure), interactions among these processes are less understood. Changes in ecosystem type and vegetation characteristics will alter spatial patterns of interactions between climate and permafrost. In addition to shrub expansion, other vegetation responses to changes in climate and rapidly changing disturbance regimes will affect ecosystem surface energy partitioning in ways that are important for permafrost. Lastly, changes in vegetation and ecosystem distribution will lead to regional and global biophysical and biogeochemical climate feedbacks that may compound or offset local impacts on permafrost soils. Consequently, accurate prediction of the permafrost carbon climate feedback will require detailed understanding of changes in terrestrial ecosystem distribution and function, which depend on the net effects of multiple feedback processes operating across scales in space and time. IASC Related Activity:
Polar Record 54, 366-372 Frozen-Ground Cartoons”: Permafrost Comics as an Innovative Tool for Polar Outreach, Education, and Engagement ABSTRACT: Permafrost occupies 20 million square kilometres of Earth’s high-latitude and high-altitude landscapes. These regions are sensitive to climate change and human activities; hence, permafrost research is of considerable scientific and societal importance. However, the results of this research are generally not known by the general public. Communicating scientific concepts is an increasingly important task in the research world. Different ways to engage learners and incorporate narratives in teaching materials exist, yet they are generally underused. Here we report on an international scientific outreach project called “Frozen-Ground Cartoons”, which aims at making permafrost science accessible and fun for students, teachers, and parents through the creation of comic strips. We present the context in which the project was initiated, as well as recent education and outreach activities. The future phases of the project primarily involve a series of augmented reality materials, such as maps, photos, videos, and 3D drawings. With this project we aim to foster understanding of permafrost research among broader audiences, inspire future permafrost researchers, and raise public and science community awareness of polar science, education, outreach, and engagement IASC Related Activity:
The Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets Under 1.5 °C Global Warming ABSTRACT: Even if anthropogenic warming were constrained to less than 2 °C above pre-industrial, the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets will continue to lose mass this century, with rates similar to those observed over the past decade. However, nonlinear responses cannot be excluded, which may lead to larger rates of mass loss. Furthermore, large uncertainties in future projections still remain, pertaining to knowledge gaps in atmospheric (Greenland) and oceanic (Antarctica) forcing. On millennial timescales, both ice sheets have tipping points at or slightly above the 1.5–2.0 °C threshold; for Greenland, this may lead to irreversible mass loss due to the surface mass balance–elevation feedback, whereas for Antarctica, this could result in a collapse of major drainage basins due to ice-shelf weakening. IASC Related Activity:
Local Arctic Air Pollution: A Neglected but Serious Problem ABSTRACT: Air pollution in the Arctic caused by local emission sources is a challenge that is important but often overlooked. Local Arctic air pollution can be severe and significantly exceed air quality standards, impairing public health and affecting ecosystems. Specifically in the wintertime, pollution can accumulate under inversion layers. However, neither the contributing emission sources are well identified and quantified nor the relevant atmospheric mechanisms forming pollution are well understood. In the summer, boreal forest fires cause high levels of atmospheric pollution. Despite the often high exposure to air pollution, there are neither specific epidemiological nor toxicological health impact studies in the Arctic. Hence, effects on the local population are difficult to estimate at present. Socioeconomic development of the Arctic is already occurring and expected to be significant in the future. Arctic destination shipping is likely to increase with the development of natural resource extraction, and tourism might expand. Such development will not only lead to growth in the population living in the Arctic but will likely increase emission types and magnitudes. Present‐day inventories show a large spread in the amount and location of emissions representing a significant source of uncertainty in model predictions that often deviate significantly from observations. This is a challenge for modeling studies that aim to assess the impacts of within Arctic air pollution. Prognoses for the future are hence even more difficult, given the additional uncertainty of estimating emissions based on future Arctic economic development scenarios. IASC Related Activity:
Non-linear Response of Summertime Marine Productivity to Increased Meltwater Discharge Around Greenland ABSTRACT: Runoff from the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is thought to enhance marine productivity by adding bioessential iron and silicic acid to coastal waters. However, experimental data suggest nitrate is the main summertime growth-limiting resource in regions affected by meltwater around Greenland. While meltwater contains low nitrate concentrations, subglacial discharge plumes from marine-terminating glaciers entrain large quantities of nitrate from deep seawater. Here, we characterize the nitrate fluxes that arise from entrainment of seawater within these plumes using a subglacial discharge plume model. The upwelled flux from 12 marine-terminating glaciers is estimated to be >1000% of the total nitrate flux from GrIS discharge. This plume upwelling effect is highly sensitive to the glacier grounding line depth. For a majority of Greenland’s marine-terminating glaciers nitrate fluxes will diminish as they retreat. This decline occurs even if discharge volume increases, resulting in a negative impact on nitrate availability and thus summertime marine productivity. IASC Related Activity: Revisiting Perceptions and Evolving Culture: a Community Dialogue on Women in Polar Research ABSTRACT: Women have made outstanding contributions to polar research in recent decades, though full engagement may be hindered by persistent inequities, including notably the prevalence of workplace harassment. Remote field settings, such as those pervasive in polar research, have been identified as particularly susceptible to cultures of harassment. It was therefore timely at the Polar 2018 Open Science Conference in Davos, Switzerland, to convene a discussion focused on women’s perspectives and experiences. A panel discussion—“From Entering the Field to Taking the Helm: Perspectives of Women in Polar Research”—took place on 20 June 2018 and featured five women undertaking work from marine biotechnology to organizational leadership, across career levels. Over 300 conference attendees joined the lunchtime panel. The panellists’ perspectives on historical barriers, current challenges and future prospects revealed that while challenges persist, experiences vary greatly. Audience engagement underscored the need to sustain dialogue at polar meetings, to bring visibility to the statistics related to workplace harassment and to encourage polar science organizations to assume leadership on promoting equitable workplace culture. IASC Related Activity: Where the Poles Come Together, POLAR2018 Joint Open Science Conference ABSTRACT: Polar research in the Arctic and Antarctic is imperative to understand our past, present, and future impact of such environments with global environmental change. Impacts from environmental change in polar regions will be felt worldwide, affecting all life on Earth on scales that previously seemed unimaginable. IASC Related Activity:
Permafrost and Culture (PaC): Integrating Environmental, Geo-, and Social Sciences to Assess Permafrost Dynamics and Indigenous Land Use ABSTRACT: Against the background of ongoing permafrost degradation induced by global climate warming,research on land use in northern tundra and taiga regions is in the spotlight of scientific and public interest. Specifically, responses of northern indigenous communities towards environmental changes are highly relevant. Besides predicting the impacts of climate-related landscape changes on people’s livelihoods on permafrost, investigations of past and present local human impacts on permafrost dynamics are essential for understanding the complex interaction of the permafrost landscape system. IASC Related Activities:
Frozen-Ground Cartoons: an International Collaboration Between Artists and Permafrost Scientists ABSTRACT: Communicating science about a phenomenon found under ground and defined by its thermal properties in an easy, fun, and engaging way, can be a challenge. Two years ago, a group of young researchers from Canada and Europe united to tackle this problem by combining arts and science to produce a series of outreach comic strips about permafrost (frozen ground). Because this concerns us all. As the climate warms, permafrost thaws and becomes unstable for houses, roads and airports.The thawing also disrupts ecosystems, impacts water quality, and releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, making climate change even stronger. The Frozen Ground Cartoon project aims to present and explain permafrost research, placing emphasis on field work and the rapidly changing northern environment. The target audience is kids, youth, parents and teachers, with the general goal of making permafrost science more fun and accessible to the public. The project has so far produced 22 pages of comics through an iterative process of exchanging ideas between two artists and thirteen scientists. The project artists were selected through an application call that received 49 applications from artists in 16 countries. With input from scientists, artists Noémie Ross (Canada) and Heta Nääs (Finland) have created a set of beautiful, artistic, humoristic, and pedagogic comics.. The comics are available for free download through the project web page (in English and Swedish), and printed copies have so far been handed out to school kids and general public in Europe. Prints in North America are planned for the fall of 2017. The next steps of the project are (1) to distribute the comics as wide as possible, (2) work towards translations into more languages, and (3) to evaluate the effectiveness of the science communication through the comics, in collaboration with schools and pedagogic experts IASC Related Activities:
Permafrost Livelihoods: a Transdisciplinary Review and Analysis of Thermokarst-Based Systems of Indigenous Land Use ABSTRACT: In a context of scientific and public debates on permafrost degradation under global climate change, this article provides an integrated review and analysis of environmental and socio-economic trends in a subarctic region. It focuses on Sakha (Yakut) animal husbandry as an example of indigenous land use. Within Sakha-Yakutia’s boreal forests, animal husbandry takes place in thermokarst depressions containing grassland areas (alaas) that formed in the early Holocene in a complex interplay of local geological conditions, climate changes, and permafrost dynamics. The current scale and speed of environmental change, along with shifting socio-economic processes, increasingly challenges Sakha’s adaptive capacity in use of alaas areas. The paper synthesizes information on the evolution of permafrost landscapes and on the local inhabitants’ and scientific knowledge. It also probes land-use prospects for the near future. The imminence of challenges for alaas ecosystems requires a holistic understanding between researchers and stakeholder communities, which in turn depends on a comprehensive assessment of the dynamic interaction of physical and social drivers of change. IASC Related Activities:
Arctic Science: From Knowledge to Action? ABSTRACT: The pace of Arctic change is outrunning the process of conducting scientific assessments. However, the demand and need for timely, accurate, relevant, and credible information is greater than ever. Scientific assessments synthesize, document and supply critical information to decision-makers on key issues. They continue to be the principal means for harnessing and communicating scientific knowledge, but the mechanisms of this process are unfamiliar to many early-career researchers. To address this need, the Association of Polar Early Career Researchers (APECS), the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) hosted a one-day workshop about scientific assessments on 24 April 2017 in conjunction with the International Conference on Arctic Science: Bringing Knowledge to Action. The workshop was attended by two dozen early-career and mid-career researchers and professionals from a range of countries and disciplines. Thirteen panellists, including assessment creators, contributors, communicators and end-users, discussed how assessments are produced, how scientific knowledge is translated and communicated, and how scientists can leverage assessments in their own outreach. Many valuable lessons and practical skills were discussed, as well as challenges and opportunities for the future of scientific assessments in the Arctic. IASC Related Activity:
Glacier Surface Velocity Retrieval Using D-InSAR and Offset Tracking Techniques Applied to Ascending and Descending Passes of Sentinel-1 Data for Southern Ellesmere Ice Caps, Canadian Arctic. ABSTRACT: The Terrain Observation by Progressive Scans (TOPS) acquisition mode of the Sentinel-1 mission provides a wide coverage per acquisition with resolutions of 5 m in range and 20 m in azimuth, which makes this acquisition mode attractive for glacier velocity monitoring. Here, we retrieve surface velocities from the southern Ellesmere Island ice caps (Canadian Arctic) using both offset tracking and Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (D-InSAR) techniques and combining ascending and descending passes. We optimise the offset tracking technique by omitting the azimuth offsets. By doing so, we are able to improve the final resolution of the velocity product, as Sentinel-1 shows a lower resolution in the azimuth direction. Simultaneously, we avoid the undesired ionospheric effect manifested in the data as azimuth streaks. The D-InSAR technique shows its merits when applied to slow-moving areas, while offset tracking is more suitable for fast-moving areas. This research shows that the methods used here are complementary and the use of both to determine glacier velocities is better than only using one or the other. We observe glacier surface velocities of up to 1200 m year −1 for the fastest tidewater glaciers. The land-terminating glaciers show typical velocities between 12 and 33 m year −1 , though with peaks up to 150 m year −1 in narrowing zones of the confining valleys. IASC Related Activity:
Modeling the Controls on the Front Position of a Tidewater Glacier in Svalbard ABSTRACT: Calving is an important mass-loss process at ice sheet and marine-terminating glacier margins, but identifying and quantifying its principal driving mechanisms remains challenging. Hansbreen is a grounded tidewater glacier in southern Spitsbergen, Svalbard, with a rich history of field and remote sensing observations. The available data make this glacier suitable for evaluating mechanisms and controls on calving, some of which are considered in this paper. We use a full-Stokes thermomechanical 2D flow model (Elmer/Ice), paired with a crevasse-depth calving criterion, to estimate Hansbreen's front position at a weekly time resolution. The basal sliding coefficient is re-calibrated every 4 weeks by solving an inverse model. We investigate the possible role of backpressure at the front (a function of ice mélange concentration) and the depth of water filling crevasses by examining the model's ability to reproduce the observed seasonal cycles of terminus advance and retreat. Our results suggest that the ice-mélange pressure plays an important role in the seasonal advance and retreat of the ice front, and that the crevasse-depth calving criterion, when driven by modeled surface meltwater, closely replicates observed variations in terminus position. These results suggest that tidewater glacier behavior is influenced by both oceanic and atmospheric processes, and that neither of them should be ignored. IASC Related Activity:
Polar Low Workshop Summary ABSTRACT: The 13th European Polar Low Workshop was organized by the European Polar Low Working Group (www.uni-trier.de/index.php?id=20308)and gathered scientists from nine countries focusing on polar mesocyclones in both hemispheres and other mesoscale weather phenomena such as katabatic winds, tip jets, boundary layer fronts, cold air outbreaks, and weather extremes in polar regions. Topics included experimental, climatological, theoretical, modeling, and remote sensing studies. The aim was to bring together scientists and forecasters to present their latest work and recent findings on these topics and to encourage discussions on improving forecasting and understanding of these phenomena.
The Arctic Science Agreement propels science diplomacy Global geopolitics are fueling the renewal of East-West tensions, with deteriorating U.S.-Russia relations in the wake of conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, issues involving cyber-security, and broader concerns about expanding militarization. Against this backdrop, the Agreement on Enhancing International Arctic Scientific Cooperation, signed on 11 May 2017 by foreign ministers of the eight Arctic States, including the U.S. and Russia, as well as Greenland and the Faroe Islands, is a milestone. This “Arctic Science Agreement” is a strong signal reaffirming the global relevance of science as a tool of diplomacy, reflecting a common interest to promote scientific cooperation even when diplomatic channels among nations are unstable (1–3). It provides a framework for enhancing the efforts of scientists working on cutting-edge issues, but translating the general language of the agreement into enhanced action requires further attention, collaboration, and effort among diplomats and scientists to ensure its successful implementation. With the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) convening the International Science Initiative in the Russian Arctic (ISIRA) at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow next week, we highlight steps to advance science, its contributions to informed decision-making, and its role in maintaining the Arctic as a zone of peace and cooperation. Authors: Paul Arthur Berkman, Lars Kullerud (UArctic), Allen Pope (IASC), Alexander N. Vylegzhanin, Oran R. Young
Permafrost and Indigenous Land Use in the Northern Urals: Komi and Nenets Reindeer Husbandry Abstract:Permafrost is an integral part of the environmental conditions that frame indigenous peoples’ livelihoods in many parts of the circumpolar region. On the basis of their long-term ethnographic field researches, the authors describe the various ways in which permafrost dynamics influence the lives and economic activities of two groups of reindeer-herding nomads in North-Eastern Europe and Western Siberia: Komi and Nenets. Permafrost affects the herders directly, for the herders have to take into account the probability of thermokarst while choosing the campsite and performing certain herding procedures. It also affects the herders indirectly, through its influence on landscape and vegetation and thus on reindeer behavior. More rapid permafrost degradation will have a range of adverse effects on reindeer herding. IASC Related Activity: Arctic terrestrial hydrology: A synthesis of processes, regional effects, and research challenges ABSTRACT: Terrestrial hydrology is central to the Arctic system and its freshwater circulation. Water transport and water constituents vary, however, across a very diverse geography. In this paper, which is a component of the Arctic Freshwater Synthesis, we review the central freshwater processes in the terrestrial Arctic drainage and how they function and change across seven hydrophysiographical regions (Arctic tundra, boreal plains, shield, mountains, grasslands, glaciers/ice caps, and wetlands). We also highlight links between terrestrial hydrology and other components of the Arctic freshwater system. In terms of key processes, snow cover extent and duration is generally decreasing on a pan‐Arctic scale, but snow depth is likely to increase in the Arctic tundra. Evapotranspiration will likely increase overall, but as it is coupled to shifts in landscape characteristics, regional changes are uncertain and may vary over time. Streamflow will generally increase with increasing precipitation, but high and low flows may decrease in some regions. Continued permafrost thaw will trigger hydrological change in multiple ways, particularly through increasing connectivity between groundwater and surface water and changing water storage in lakes and soils, which will influence exchange of moisture with the atmosphere. Other effects of hydrological change include increased risks to infrastructure and water resource planning, ecosystem shifts, and growing flows of water, nutrients, sediment, and carbon to the ocean. Coordinated efforts in monitoring, modeling, and processing studies at various scales are required to improve the understanding of change, in particular at the interfaces between hydrology, atmosphere, ecology, resources, and oceans IASC Related Activity:
High-Latitude Dynamics of Atmosphere–Ice–Ocean Interactions ABSTRACT: Scientists from 13 countries involved with modeling and observing the coupled high-latitude weather and climate system discussed our current understanding and challenges in polar prediction, extreme events, and coupled processes on scales ranging from cloud and turbulent processes, from micrometers and a few hundred meters to processes on synoptic-scale weather phenomena and pan-Arctic energy budgets of hundreds to thousands of kilometers. Workshop participants also evaluated research needs to improve numerical models with usages spanning from uncoupled to fully coupled models used for weather and climate prediction (http://highlatdynamics.b.uib.no/). IASC Related Activity:
ICARP III Final Report (PDF - 4,5 MB) Integrating Arctic Research - a Roadmap for the Future: The official outcomes of the Third International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP III) were published online today. The report, entitled "Integrating Arctic Research – A Roadmap for the Future“ presents the key messages that emerged from the 2-year ICARP III process. IASC Related Activity:
MOSAiC Science Plan 2016 (PDF - 3MB) The plan was developed by the MOSAiC Science Plan writing team during 2013-2016 and lays out the scientific vision and design of the MOSAiC initiative. The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) is a key international flagship initiative under the auspices of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC).
“The Arctic Freshwater System in a Changing Climate” Report (PDF - 17MB) The report is an assessment produced jointly by the World Climate Research Programme’s Climate and Cryosphere Project (CliC), IASC and AMAP. The AFS Summary report is based on the scientific articles that have been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication in a Special Issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.
Integrating Environmental, Geo-, And Social Sciences To Assess Permafrost Dynamics And Indigenous Land Use Abstract:Few regions in the Northern hemisphere have received as much attention from permafrost scientists as central Yakutia. The reasons for this are obvious: permafrost extends to greater depths than elsewhere and the Yakutian lowlands are characterized by ice- and organic-rich Yedoma deposits. Furthermore, the specific conditions of permafrost degradation have created a landscape that provides local conditions suitable for cattle and horse breeding in an area that is generally too harsh for animal husbandry, except for reindeer herding. It is exactly this type of livelihood – cattle and horse breeding – that came to be the basis for Sakha (Yakut) pastoralists who immigrated into this region from more southerly areas several centuries ago. In short, Yakuts have learned to use this thermokarst landscape and the alas basins which are so characteristic of it, to make a living. This is a unique phenomenon in its own right, yet it also pertains to the more general question of indigenous peoples’ livelihoods in permafrost areas IASC Related Activity: Arctic Freshwater Synthesis: Introduction Abstract:In response to a joint request from the World Climate Research Program's Climate and Cryosphere Project, the International Arctic Science Committee, and the Arctic Council's Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, an updated scientific assessment has been conducted of the Arctic Freshwater System, entitled the Arctic Freshwater Synthesis (AFS). The major reason for joint request was an increasing concern that changes to the Arctic Freshwater System have produced, and could produce even greater, changes to biogeophysical and socioeconomic systems of special importance to northern residents and also produce extra‐Arctic climatic effects that will have global consequences. Hence, the key objective of the AFS was to produce an updated, comprehensive, and integrated review of the structure and function of the entire Arctic Freshwater System. The AFS was organized around six key thematic areas: atmosphere, oceans, terrestrial hydrology, terrestrial ecology, resources and modeling, and the review of each coauthored by an international group of scientists and published as separate articles in this special section of Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. This Introduction reviews the motivations for, and foci of, previous studies of the Arctic Freshwater System, discusses criteria used to define the domain of the Arctic Freshwater System, and details key characteristics of the definition adopted for the AFS. IASC Related Activity:
Arctic Freshwater Synthesis: Summary of Key Emerging Issues Abstract:In response to a joint request from the World Climate Research Program's Climate and Cryosphere Project, the International Arctic Science Committee, and the Arctic Council's Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program an updated scientific assessment has been conducted of the Arctic Freshwater System, entitled the Arctic Freshwater Synthesis (AFS). The major reason behind the joint request was an increasing concern that changes to the Arctic Freshwater System have produced, and could produce even greater, changes to biogeophysical and socioeconomic systems of special importance to northern residents and also produce extra‐Arctic climatic effects that will have global consequences. The AFS was structured around six key thematic areas: atmosphere, oceans, terrestrial hydrology, terrestrial ecology, resources, and modeling, the review of each coauthored by an international group of scientists and published as separate articles in this special section of Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. This AFS summary article reviews key issues that emerged during the conduct of the synthesis, especially those that are cross‐thematic in nature, and identifies future research required to address such issues. IASC Related Activity:
Changes to Freshwater Systems Affecting Arctic Infrastructure and Natural Resources Abstract:The resources component of the Arctic Freshwater Synthesis focuses on the potential impact of future climate and change on water resources in the Arctic and how Arctic infrastructure and exploration and production of natural resources are affected. Freshwater availability may increase in the Arctic in the future in response to an increase in middle‐ and high‐latitude annual precipitation. Changes in type of precipitation, its seasonal distribution, timing, and rate of snowmelt represent a challenge to municipalities and transportation networks subjected to flooding and droughts and to current industries and future industrial development. A reliable well‐distributed water source is essential for all infrastructures, industrial development, and other sectorial uses in the Arctic. Fluctuations in water supply and seasonal precipitation and temperature may represent not only opportunities but also threats to water quantity and quality for Arctic communities and industrial use. The impact of future climate change is varying depending on the geographical area and the current state of infrastructure and industrial development. This paper provides a summary of our current knowledge related to the system function and key physical processes affecting northern water resources, industry, and other sectorial infrastructure. IASC Related Activity:
Freshwater and its Role in the Arctic Marine System: Sources, Disposition, Storage, Export, and Physical and Biogeochemical Consequences in the Arctic and Global Ocean Abstract: The Arctic Ocean is a fundamental node in the global hydrological cycle and the ocean's thermohaline circulation. We here assess the system's key functions and processes: (1) the delivery of fresh and low‐salinity waters to the Arctic Ocean by river inflow, net precipitation, distillation during the freeze/thaw cycle, and Pacific Ocean inflows; (2) the disposition (e.g., sources, pathways, and storage) of freshwater components within the Arctic Ocean; and (3) the release and export of freshwater components into the bordering convective domains of the North Atlantic. We then examine physical, chemical, or biological processes which are influenced or constrained by the local quantities and geochemical qualities of freshwater; these include stratification and vertical mixing, ocean heat flux, nutrient supply, primary production, ocean acidification, and biogeochemical cycling. Internal to the Arctic the joint effects of sea ice decline and hydrological cycle intensification have strengthened coupling between the ocean and the atmosphere (e.g., wind and ice drift stresses, solar radiation, and heat and moisture exchange), the bordering drainage basins (e.g., river discharge, sediment transport, and erosion), and terrestrial ecosystems (e.g., Arctic greening, dissolved and particulate carbon loading, and altered phenology of biotic components). External to the Arctic freshwater export acts as both a constraint to and a necessary ingredient for deep convection in the bordering subarctic gyres and thus affects the global thermohaline circulation. Geochemical fingerprints attained within the Arctic Ocean are likewise exported into the neighboring subarctic systems and beyond. Finally, we discuss observed and modeled functions and changes in this system on seasonal, annual, and decadal time scales and discuss mechanisms that link the marine system to atmospheric, terrestrial, and cryospheric systems. IASC Related Activity:
Modeling the Arctic freshwater system and its integration in the global system: Lessons learned and future challenges/span> Abstract:Numerous components of the Arctic freshwater system (atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and terrestrial hydrology) have experienced large changes over the past few decades, and these changes are projected to amplify further in the future. Observations are particularly sparse, in both time and space, in the polar regions. Hence, modeling systems have been widely used and are a powerful tool to gain understanding on the functioning of the Arctic freshwater system and its integration within the global Earth system and climate. Here we present a review of modeling studies addressing some aspect of the Arctic freshwater system. Through illustrative examples, we point out the value of using a hierarchy of models with increasing complexity and component interactions, in order to dismantle the important processes at play for the variability and changes of the different components of the Arctic freshwater system and the interplay between them. We discuss past and projected changes for the Arctic freshwater system and explore the sources of uncertainty associated with these model results. We further elaborate on some missing processes that should be included in future generations of Earth system models and highlight the importance of better quantification and understanding of natural variability, among other factors, for improved predictions of Arctic freshwater system change. IASC Related Activity:
The Atmospheric Role In The Arctic Water Cycle: A Review On Processes, Past And Future Changes, And Their Impacts Abstract:Atmospheric humidity, clouds, precipitation, and evapotranspiration are essential components of the Arctic climate system. During recent decades, specific humidity and precipitation have generally increased in the Arctic, but changes in evapotranspiration are poorly known. Trends in clouds vary depending on the region and season. Climate model experiments suggest that increases in precipitation are related to global warming. In turn, feedbacks associated with the increase in atmospheric moisture and decrease in sea ice and snow cover have contributed to the Arctic amplification of global warming. Climate models have captured the overall wetting trend but have limited success in reproducing regional details. For the rest of the 21st century, climate models project strong warming and increasing precipitation, but different models yield different results for changes in cloud cover. The model differences are largest in months of minimum sea ice cover. Evapotranspiration is projected to increase in winter but in summer to decrease over the oceans and increase over land. Increasing net precipitation increases river discharge to the Arctic Ocean. Over sea ice in summer, projected increase in rain and decrease in snowfall decrease the surface albedo and, hence, further amplify snow/ice surface melt. With reducing sea ice, wind forcing on the Arctic Ocean increases with impacts on ocean currents and freshwater transport out of the Arctic. Improvements in observations, process understanding, and modeling capabilities are needed to better quantify the atmospheric role in the Arctic water cycle and its changes. IASC Related Activity:
Transitions in Arctic Ecosystems: Ecological Implications of a Changing Hydrological Regime Abstract:Numerous international scientific assessments and related articles have, during the last decade, described the observed and potential impacts of climate change as well as other related environmental stressors on Arctic ecosystems. There is increasing recognition that observed and projected changes in freshwater sources, fluxes, and storage will have profound implications for the physical, biogeochemical, biological, and ecological processes and properties of Arctic terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. However, a significant level of uncertainty remains in relation to forecasting the impacts of an intensified hydrological regime and related cryospheric change on ecosystem structure and function. As the terrestrial and freshwater ecology component of the Arctic Freshwater Synthesis, we review these uncertainties and recommend enhanced coordinated circumpolar research and monitoring efforts to improve quantification and prediction of how an altered hydrological regime influences local, regional, and circumpolar‐level responses in terrestrial and freshwater systems. Specifically, we evaluate (i) changes in ecosystem productivity; (ii) alterations in ecosystem‐level biogeochemical cycling and chemical transport; (iii) altered landscapes, successional trajectories, and creation of new habitats; (iv) altered seasonality and phenological mismatches; and (v) gains or losses of species and associated trophic interactions. We emphasize the need for developing a process‐based understanding of interecosystem interactions, along with improved predictive models. We recommend enhanced use of the catchment scale as an integrated unit of study, thereby more explicitly considering the physical, chemical, and ecological processes and fluxes across a full freshwater continuum in a geographic region and spatial range of hydroecological units (e.g., stream‐pond‐lake‐river‐near shore marine environments). IASC Related Activity: IASC Member Country Survey
IASC ReportT-MOSAiC—A new circumpolar collaboration
D. Folhas, J. Canário, and W.F. Vincent
T-MOSAiC 2019
Permafrost Collapse is Accelerating Carbon Release
B.W. Abbott, M.C. Jones, K.W. Anthony, D. Olefeldt, E.A.G. Schuur, C. Koven, A.D. McGuire, G. Grosse, P. Kuhry, G. Hugelius, D.M. Lawrence, C. Gibson and A.B.K. Sannel
Permafrost Carbon NetworkUnderstanding the Terrestrial Effects of Arctic Sea Ice Decline
W. F. Vincent, J. Canário, and J. Boike
T-MOSAiCLand Improvement Under Conditions of Permafrost: Melioratsiia and Intended Forms of Environmental Change in Soviet Yakutia
J.O. HabecK and A. Yakovlev
Permafrost and Culture (2014) and Permafrost Dynamics and Indigenous Land Use (2015)
For more information check IASC 2014 and 2015 BulletinsPermafrost Zone Soils and the Traditional Land Use of the Aboriginal Populations of North-Eastern European Russia and Western Siberia: Research Problem Statement
[Original title: Pochvy kriolitozony i traditsionnoe prirodopol'zovanie korennogo naseleniia severo-vostoka evropeiskoi chasti Rossii i zapadnoi Sibiri: postanovka issledovatel'skoi problemy]
J.O. HabecK and K. Istomin 2018
Introduction: Feminist Approaches and the Study of Gender in Arctic Social Sciences
V. Vladimirova and J. O. Habeck
For more information check IASC 216 BulletinDependence of the evolution of carbon dynamics in the Northern Permafrost Region on the trajectory of climate change - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
M.D. Lawrence, C.D. Koven, J. Clein, E.J. Burke, G. Chen, E. Jafarov, A. MacDougall, S. Marchenko,D. Nicolsky, S.-S. Peng, A. Rinke, P. Ciais, I. Gouttevin, D. Hayes, D. Ji, G. Krinner, J. Moore, V. Romanovsky, C. Schädel, K. Schaefer, E.A.G. Schuur, Q. Zhuang
Permafrost Carbon NetworkReviews and Syntheses: Changing Ecosystem Influences on Soil Thermal Regimes in Northern High-Latitude Permafrost Regions
B.W. MAbbott, D. Blok, T.A. Douglas, H.E. Epstein, B.C. Forbes, B.M. Jones, A.L. Kholodov, H. Kropp, A. Malhotra, S.D. Mamet, I.H. Myers-Smith,S.M. Natali, J.A. O’Donnell,G.K. Phoenix,A.V. Rocha, O. Sonnentag, K.D. Tape and D.A. Walker
Permafrost Carbon NetworkFrozen-Ground Cartoons”: Permafrost Comics as an Innovative Tool for Polar Outreach, Education, and Engagement
F. Bouchard, J. Sansoulet, M. Fritz, J. Malenfant-Lepage, A. Nieuwendam,M. Paquette, A.C.A. Rudy,M.B. Siewert,Y Sjöberg,G. Tanski,J.O. Habeck, and L. Harbor
The Frozen-Ground CartoonsThe Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets under 1.5 °C Global Warming
F. Pattyn, C. Ritz, E. Hanna, X. Asay-Davis, R. DeConto, G. Durand, L. Favier, X. Fettweis, H. Goelzer, N. R. Golledge, P. Kuipers Munneke, J.T. M. Lenaerts, S. Nowicki, A. J. Payne, A. Robinson, H. Seroussi, L.D. Trusel & M. van den Broeke
Article also available here.
SCAR/IASC/CliC Ice Sheet Mass Balance and Sea Level (ISMASS)Local Arctic Air Pollution: A Neglected but Serious Problem
J. Schmale, S. R. Arnold, K. S. Law, T. Thorp, S. Anenberg, W. R. Simpson, J. Mao, K. A. Pratt
The Second PACES Science WorkshopNon-linear Response of Summertime Marine Productivity to Increased Meltwater Discharge Around Greenland
M. J. Hopwood, D. Carroll, T. J. Browning, L. Meire, J. Mortensen, S. Krisch & E. P. Achterberg
The Importance of Arctic Glaciers for the Arctic Marine EcosystemRevisiting Perceptions and Evolving Culture: a Community Dialogue on Women in Polar Research
S. Starkweather, M. Seag, O. Lee, A. Pope
From Entering the Field to Taking the Helm: Perspectives of Women in Polar ResearchWhere the Poles Come Together
Juliana D’Andrilli
POLAR2018 2017
Permafrost and Culture (PaC): Integrating Environmental, Geo-, and Social Sciences to Assess Permafrost Dynamics and Indigenous Land Use
M. Ulrich and J. O. Habeck
Permafrost dynamics and indigenous land use in the Northern Urals: Combining insights of local land users, environmental and social scientists Frozen-Ground Cartoons: an International Collaboration Between Artists and Permafrost Scientists
H. Nääs and N. Ross, with F. Bouchard, B. Deshpande, M. Fritz, J. Malenfant-Lepage, A. Nieuwendam, M. Paquette, A. Rudy, M. Siewert, Y. Sjöberg, A. Veillette, S. Weege, J. Harbor and J. O. Habeck
Permafrost on All ChannelsPermafrost Livelihoods: a Transdisciplinary Review and Analysis of Thermokarst-Based Systems of Indigenous Land Use
S. Crate, U. Mathias, J. O. Habeck, A. R. Desyatkin, R. V. Desyatkin, A. N. Fedorov, T. Hiyama, Y. Iijima, S. Kesenofontov, C. Mészáros and H. Takakura
Permafrost and Culture (2014) and Permafrost Dynamics and Indigenous Land Use (2015)
For more information check IASC 2014 and 2015 BulletinsArctic Science: From Knowledge to Action?
K. Timm, A. Pope, M. Smieszek, G. Fugmann & Y. Zaika
Workshop, Arctic Science: From Knowledge to Action?Glacier Surface Velocity Retrieval Using D-InSAR and Offset Tracking Techniques Applied to Ascending and Descending Passes of Sentinel-1 Data for Southern Ellesmere Ice Caps, Canadian Arctic
P. Sánchez-Gámez, and F.J. Navarro (Sens, 9(5), 442; doi: 10.3390/rs9050442)
Network on Arctic GlaciologyModeling the Controls on the Front Position of a Tidewater Glacier in Svalbard
Otero J., Navarro F.J., Lapazaran J.J., Welty E., Puczko D. and R. Finkelnburg (Front. Earth Sci. 5:29. doi:10.3389/feart.2017.00029)
Network on Arctic GlaciologyPolar Low Workshop Summary
Thomas Spengler (Corresponding author) et al. The Arctic Science Agreement Propels Science Diplomacy
2016
Permafrost and Indigenous Land Use in the Northern Urals: Komi and Nenets Reindeer Husbandry
K. Istomin and J. O. Habeck
Permafrost dynamics and indigenous land use in the Northern Urals: Combining insights of local land users, environmental and social scientistsArctic terrestrial hydrology: A synthesis of processes, regional effects, and research challenges
A. Bring, I. Fedorova, Y. Dibike, L. Hinzman, J. Mård, S. H. Mernild, T. Prowse, O. Semenova, S. L. Stuefer, M.‐K. Woo
Arctic Freshwater Synthesis (AFS)High-Latitude Dynamics of Atmosphere–Ice–Ocean Interactions
Thomas Spengler (Corresponding author) et al.
Workshop on Dynamics of Atmosphere-Ice-Ocean Interactions in High LatitudesICARP III Final Report
ICARP IIIMOSAiC Science Plan 2016
The Arctic Freshwater System in a Changing Climate
2015
Integrating Environmental, Geo-, And Social Sciences To Assess Permafrost Dynamics And Indigenous Land Use
M. Ulrich and J. O. Habeck
Permafrost and Culture (2014) and Permafrost Dynamics and Indigenous Land Use (2015)
For more information check IASC 2014 and 2015 BulletinsArctic Freshwater Synthesis: Introduction
T. Prowse, A. Bring, J. Mård, E. Carmack
Arctic Freshwater Synthesis (AFS)Arctic Freshwater Synthesis: Summary of Key Emerging Issues
T. Prowse, A. Bring, J. Mård, E. Carmack, M. Holland, A. Instanes, T. Vihma, F. J. Wrona
Arctic Freshwater Synthesis (AFS)Changes to Freshwater Systems Affecting Arctic Infrastructure and Natural Resources
A. Instanes, V. Kokorev, R. Janowicz, O. Bruland, K. Sand, T. Prowse
Arctic Freshwater Synthesis (AFS)Freshwater and its Role in the Arctic Marine System: Sources, Disposition, Storage, Export, and Physical and Biogeochemical Consequences in the Arctic and Global Oceans
E.C. Carmack, M. Yamamoto-Kawai, T. Haine, S. Bacon, B. Bluhm, C. Lique, H. Melling, I. Polyakov, F. Straneo, M.-L. Timmermans, W.J. Williams;
Arctic Freshwater Synthesis (AFS)Modeling the Arctic freshwater system and its integration in the global system: Lessons learned and future challenges
C. Lique, M. M. Holland, Y. B. Dibike, D. M. Lawrence, J. A. Screen
Arctic Freshwater Synthesis (AFS)The Atmospheric Role In The Arctic Water Cycle: A Review On Processes, Past And Future Changes, And Their Impacts
T. Vihma, J. Screen, M. Tjernström, B. Newton, X. Zhang, V. Popova, C. Deser, M. Holland, T. Prowse
Arctic Freshwater Synthesis (AFS)Transitions in Arctic Ecosystems: Ecological Implications of a Changing Hydrological Regime
F.J. Wrona, M. Johansson, J. M. Culp, A. Jenkins, J. Mård, I. H. Myers‐Smith, T. D. Prowse, W. F. Vincent, P. A. Wookey
Arctic Freshwater Synthesis (AFS)