Search results for "arctic"
showing 10 items of 565 documents
Climate change and the ecology and evolution of Arctic vertebrates.
2012
25 pages; International audience; Climate change is taking place more rapidly and severely in the Arctic than anywhere on the globe, exposing Arctic vertebrates to a host of impacts. Changes in the cryosphere dominate the physical changes that already affect these animals, but increasing air temperatures, changes in precipitation, and ocean acidification will also affect Arctic ecosystems in the future. Adaptation via natural selection is problematic in such a rapidly changing environment. Adjustment via phenotypic plasticity is therefore likely to dominate Arctic vertebrate responses in the short term, and many such adjustments have already been documented. Changes in phenology and range w…
The relationship between water and air temperature in chironomid-based paleoclimate reconstructions: Records from boreal and subarctic Finland
2014
Fossil remains of larval chironomids are one of the most useful paleolimnological proxies to reconstruct Holocene paleoclimate. We investigate the within-lake distribution of chironomids in relation to water temperature and test the usability of intralake calibration in chironomid-based temperature reconstructions. We compare our findings against the traditional multilake calibration technique in Holocene sediment cores from Finland. The results show that intralake water temperature optima of common taxa correspond closely with mean July air temperature optima in a regional multilake dataset, with exception of a few vegetation-associated taxa. A calibration model based on intralake water t…
Decadal climate variability of the North Sea during the last millennium reconstructed from bivalve shells (Arctica islandica)
2014
Uninterrupted, annually resolved paleoclimate records are crucial to contextualize the current global change. Such information is particularly relevant for the Europe realm for which weather and climate projections are still very challenging if not virtually impossible. This study presents the first precisely dated, annually resolved, multiregional Arctica islandica chronologies from the North Sea which cover the time interval ad 1040–2010 and contain important information on supra-regional climatic conditions (sea surface temperature (SST), ocean productivity, wind stress). Shell growth varied periodically on timescales of 3–8, 12–16, 28–36, 50–80, and 120–240 years, possibly indicating a…
The seasonal water temperature cycle in the Arctic Dicksonfjord (Svalbard) during the Holocene Climate Optimum derived from subfossil Arctica islandi…
2015
Future climate change will have significant effects on ecosystems worldwide and on polar regions in particular. Hence, palaeo-environmental studies focussing on the last warmer-than-today phase (i.e. the early Holocene) in higher latitudes are of particular importance to understand climate development and its potential impact in polar systems. Molluscan bivalve shells constitute suitable bio-archives for high-resolution palaeo-environmental reconstructions. Here, we present a first reconstruction of early Holocene seasonal water temperature cycle in an Arctic fjord based on stable oxygen isotope (δ18Oshell) profiles in shells of Arctica islandica (Bivalvia) from raised beach deposits in Di…
Climate controls on the Holocene development of a subarctic lake in northern Fennoscandia
2015
International audience; Climate exerts strong control over the functioning of northern freshwater ecosystems, yet their resilience and responses to climate forcing may vary. We examined postglacial development patterns in subarctic Lake Varddoaijavri to discern the impact of direct climate controls, catchment influence, and ontogenic processes on the ecological functioning of the lake over the Holocene. Subfossil diatom assemblages together with the elemental and stable isotopic (delta C-13, delta N-15) composition of sediment organic matter were used to examine climate-induced changes in the structure of the phototrophic community and transport of terrestrial organic matter from the catchm…
The lacustrine sediment record of Oberwinkler Maar (Eifel, Germany): Chironomid and macro-remain-based inferences of environmental changes during Oxy…
2008
The lacustrine record of Oberwinkler Maar (Eifel, Germany) is the northernmost continuous record documenting the Weichselian Pleniglacial in central Europe - a period characterized by multiple abrupt climate oscillations known as the Dansgaard/Oeschger cycles. Here, the results of a high-resolution study of chironomid remains are presented, with a focus on the earlier part of Oxygen Isotope Stage (OIS) 3 (60-50 kyr BP) covering four stadial/interstadial cycles. During the stadials, the chironomid fauna of the former lake was dominated by many coldstenothermic chironomid taxa, indicating a cold, oligotrophic lake. The concentrations of chironomid remains were lower during the interstadials, …
Kilpailu vaikuttaa nieriän ravintoon
2013
Lapin nieriäkannat ovat monin paikoin taantuneet uusien kalalajien levittäytymisen seurauksena. Tuore väitöskirjatutkimus osoittaa, että nieriä voi vaihtaa ravintoaan ja elinpaikkaansa vähentääkseen kilpailua muiden kalalajien kanssa. nonPeerReviewed
Spatial distribution of the arctic haze aerosol size distribution in western and eastern Arctic
1997
Abstract Since June 1993, four flight campaigns to the Arctic have been carried out by a group of scientists from Russia and Germany. Optical remote-sensing methods and in-situ chemical and aerosol measurements have been combined on board a Russian IL-18 research aircraft. From arctic air bases in Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and Spitsbergen, respectively, flights have been undertaken to determine spatial structure of arctic haze events. This paper reports on aerosol data obtained during the expedition of Spring 1994. Haze events have been found in the east and west Arctic, containing about the same concentration of particles. Horizontal and vertical layer extensions are given and the size dist…
Measurements of aerosol and CCN properties in the Mackenzie River delta (Canadian Arctic) during spring–summer transition in May 2014
2018
Within the framework of the RACEPAC (Radiation–Aerosol–Cloud Experiment in the Arctic Circle) project, the Arctic aerosol, arriving at a ground-based station in Tuktoyaktuk (Mackenzie River delta area, Canada), was characterized during a period of 3 weeks in May 2014. Basic meteorological parameters and particle number size distributions (PNSDs) were observed and two distinct types of air masses were found. One type were typical Arctic haze air masses, termed accumulation-type air masses, characterized by a monomodal PNSD with a pronounced accumulation mode at sizes above 100 nm. These air masses were observed during a period when back trajectories indicate an air mass origin in the north-e…
Feasibility of hyperspectral vegetation indices for the detection of chlorophyll concentration in three high Arctic plants: Salix polaris, Bistorta v…
2018
Remote sensing, which is based on a reflected electromagnetic spectrum, offers a wide range of research methods. It allows for the identification of plant properties, e.g., chlorophyll, but a registered signal not only comes from green parts but also from dry shoots, soil, and other objects located next to the plants. It is, thus, important to identify the most applicable remote-acquired indices for chlorophyll detection in polar regions, which play a primary role in global monitoring systems but consist of areas with high and low accessibility. This study focuses on an analysis of in situ-acquired hyperspectral properties, which was verified by simultaneously measuring the chlorophyll conc…