The Pacific Arctic region is experiencing rapid sea ice retreat, seawater warming, ocean acidification and biological response. Physical and biogeochemical modeling indicates the potential for step-function changes to the overall marine ecosystem. This synthesis book was coordinated within the Pacific Arctic Group, a network of international partners working in the Pacific Arctic. Chapter topics range from atmospheric and physical sciences to chemical processing and biological response to changing environmental conditions. Physical and biogeochemical modeling results highlight the need for data collection and interdisciplinary modeling activities to track and forecast the changing ecosystem of the Pacific Arctic with climate change.

th Towards the end of the 19 century some researchers put forward the hypothesis that the Polar regions may play the key role in the shaping of the global climate. This supposition found its full confirmation in empirical and th model research conducted in the 20 century, particularly in recent decades. The intensification of the global warming after about 1975 brought into focus the physical causes of this phenomenon. The first climatic models created at that time, and the analyses of long observation series consistently showed that the Polar regions are the most sensitive to climatic changes. This aroused the interest of numerous researchers, who thought that the examination of the proc esses taking place in these regions might help to determine the mechanisms responsible for the "working" of the global climatic system. To date, a great number of publications on this issue have been published. However, as a re view of the literature shows, there is not a single monograph which comprises the basic information concerning the current state of the Arctic climate. The last study to discuss the climate of the Arctic in any depth was published in 1970 (Climates a/the Polar Regions, vol. 14, ed. S. Orvig) by the World Survey of Climatology, edited by H. E. Landsberg. This publication, however, does not provide the full climatic picture of many meteorological elements.

The Arctic region is the keystone to understanding the present status ofcurrently ongoing Earth systems and to predicting future imagesof our planet as viewed from northern high latitudes. The Arctic region,composed of ice-covered Arctic ocean in its center and surroundingfragmentation of the major continents, has been investigatedduring the last half century through all kinds of scientific studies:bioscience, physical sciences, geoscience, oceanography, and environmental studies, together with the technological domain. This book covers topics on the recent developments of all kinds of scientific research in and around the Arctic region, with a view to monitoring the current variations in the extreme environment, affected by remarkable changes in temperature and sea-ice extent, mass loss of ice-sheet and glaciers, and variations in marine and terrestrial ecosystems, including human activities.

This volume brings together multiple perspectives on both the changing Arctic environment and the challenges and opportunities it presents for the shipping sector. It argues for the adoption of a forward-looking agenda that respects the fragile and changing Arctic frontier. With the accelerated interest in and potential for new maritime trade routes, commercial transportation and natural resource development, the pressures on the changing Arctic marine environment will only increase. The International Maritime Organization Polar Code is an important step toward Arctic stewardship. This new volume serves as an important guide to this rapidly developing agenda. Addressing a range of aspects, it offers a valuable resource for academics, practitioners, environmentalists and affected authorities in the shipping industry alike.

In one hundred years, or even fifty, the Arctic will look dramatically different than it does today. As polar ice retreats and animals and plants migrate northward, the arctic landscape is morphing into something new and very different from what it once was. While these changes may seem remote, they will have a profound impact on a host of global issues, from international politics to animal migrations. In Future Arctic, journalist and explorer Edward Struzik offers a clear-eyed look at the rapidly shifting dynamics in the Arctic region, a harbinger of changes that will reverberate throughout our entire world. Future Arctic reveals the inside story of how politics and climate change are altering the polar world in a way that will have profound effects on economics, culture, and the environment as we know it. Struzik takes readers up mountains and cliffs, and along for the ride on snowmobiles and helicopters, sailboats and icebreakers. His travel companions, from wildlife scientists to military strategists to indigenous peoples, share diverse insights into the science, culture and geopolitical tensions of this captivating place. With their help, Struzik begins piecing together an environmental puzzle: How might the land’s most iconic species—caribou, polar bears, narwhal—survive? Where will migrating birds flock to? How will ocean currents shift? And what fundamental changes will oil and gas exploration have on economies and ecosystems? How will vast unclaimed regions of the Arctic be divided? A unique combination of extensive on-the-ground research, compelling storytelling, and policy analysis, Future Arctic offers a new look at the changes occurring in this remote, mysterious region and their far-reaching effects.

Proceedings of conference held in March 1980, at the Royal Geographical Society to examine the effect of pollutants from Europe, America and Asia on the Arctic Ocean environment.

Governing Arctic Seas introduces the concept of ecopolitical regions, using in-depth analyses of the Bering Strait and Barents Sea Regions to demonstrate how integrating the natural sciences, social sciences and Indigenous knowledge can reveal patterns, trends and processes as the basis for informed decisionmaking. This book draws on international, interdisciplinary and inclusive (holistic) perspectives to analyze governance mechanisms, built infrastructure and their coupling to achieve sustainability in biophysical regions subject to shared authority. Governing Arctic Seas is the first volume in a series of books on Informed Decisionmaking for Sustainability that apply, train and refine science diplomacy to address transboundary issues at scales ranging from local to global. For nations and peoples as well as those dealing with global concerns, this holistic process operates across a ‘continuum of urgencies’ from security time scales (mitigating risks of political, economic and cultural instabilities that are immediate) to sustainability time scales (balancing economic prosperity, environmental protection and societal well-being across generations). Informed decisionmaking is the apex goal, starting with questions that generate data as stages of research, integrating decisionmaking institutions to employ evidence to reveal options (without advocacy) that contribute to informed decisions. The first volumes in the series focus on the Arctic, revealing legal, economic, environmental and societal lessons with accelerating knowledge co-production to achieve progress with sustainability in this globally-relevant region that is undergoing an environmental state change in the sea and on land. Across all volumes, there is triangulation to integrate research, education and leadership as well as science, technology and innovation to elaborate the theory, methods and skills of informed decisionmaking to build common interests for the benefit of all on Earth.