Arctic and Environmental Change

Peter Wadhams, J A Dowdeswell, A M Schofield, J.A. Dowdeswell, Peter Wadhams, J A Dowdeswell, A M Schofield, J.A. Dowdeswell

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351465649
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Biological Sciences

This timely book presents a wide-ranging review of Arctic environmental change in response to global warming, and gives a broad insight into the transformation of the Arctic which we can expect during the next century. It is in high northern latitudes that we can expect to observe global warming at its most powerful, making it a natural laboratory where climate changes and their impacts can be monitored and studied more readily than elsewhere in the world. Fourteen authoritative reviews cover the predictions of warming rates by General Circulation Models; variabilities in atmospheric circulation and moisture flux; the dynamics of the polar vortex in the Arctic and its role in ozone loss; the countervailing influence of air pollution in reducing solar irradiance; and the impact of climatic change on Arctic terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Also detailed are the thermohaline circulation of the ocean, the extent and thickness of sea ice, the sizes of glaciers and ice sheets, and the extent of permafrost. Moving to past changes, the records from Greenland ice cores and deep ocean drilling are reviewed for what they tell us about past climates and glaciation in the Arctic., The book paints a vivid and disturbing picture of the enhanced warming that can be expected in the Arctic relative to lower latitudes, and of the major impacts that this will have on the northern cryosphere. It will be an invaluable reference for anyone seeking a greater understanding of the factors and processes affecting the arctic environment, which may ultimately have a major impact on global climatic change.

Index

Abyssal Plain, Alaska 178

adiabatic cooling 43

advanced very high-resolution radiometer (AVHRR) 102

aerial photographs 127

aerosols 53

Airborne Arctic stratospheric expedition II (AASE II) 42

airborne electromagnetic measurement 107, 108

airborne lasar profilometry 107, 108

Alaska

carbon sink 70, 76

environmental manipulation experiments 63–4

glaciers 128

glacio-marine deposits 178

irradiance change 50

moisture flux 20, 21

temperature change 82, 151

albedo 2, 3, 4, 15, 60, 71, 102, 130

Alert, Canada

meteorological data 124

radiation measurements 49, 51, 52, 53

Aleutian

islands 178

low 5

Trench 178

algae 78

Allerød 164

Alpha–Mendeleev Ridge 184

altimetry, satellite radar 135–46

amphipods 79

Amundsen Basin 91, 92

Antarctic and Southern Hemisphere ozone expedition (ASHOE) 44

Antarctica

ice core 168

ice sheet 4, 102, 122, 131, 135, 159–60

irradiance 54–6

sea ice 56, 106

stratosphere 27

vortex 31, 35–6

Arctic basin 5, 7, 8

sea ice 104, 108, 109, 113, 116

Arctic Climate System Study 109

Arctic halocline 7

Arctic Haze 47

Arctic Mediterranean Sea, thermohaline circulation 87, 89, 97

Arctic Ocean

biological oceanography 77–86

precipitable water 19

precipitation 9

sea ice 101–19

soundings 17

thermohaline circulation 87–99, 114

Arctic Ocean Buoy Program 111

atmospheric c...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Modelling Arctic climate change
• Variability in atmospheric circulation and moisture flux over the Arctic
• The stratospheric polar vortex and sub-vortex: fluid dynamics and mid-latitude ozone loss
• Ozone loss in middle latitudes and the role of the Arctic polar vortex
• Solar irradiance, air pollution and temperature changes in the Arctic
• Arctic terrestrial ecosystems and environmental change
• Climate change and biological oceanography of the Arctic Ocean
• The thermohaline circulation of the Arctic Ocean and the Greenland Sea
• Arctic sea ice extent and thickness
• Glaciers in the High Arctic and recent environmental change
• Elevation change of the Greenland Ice Sheet and its measurement with satellite radar altimetry
• Permafrost and climate change: geotechnical implications
• Greenland ice core records and rapid climate change
• Non-steady behaviour in the Cenozoic polar North Atlantic system: the onset and variability of Northern Hemisphere glaciations
• Index