Feature Publication Archive
Cohen, J., J.A. Screen, J.C. Furtado, M. Barlow, D. Whittleston, D. Coumou, J. Francis, K. Dethloff, D. Entekhabi, J. Overland, and J. Jones (2014): Recent Arctic amplification and extreme mid-latitude weather. Nature Geosci., 7(9), doi: 10.1038/ngeo2234, 627–637.
Improved understanding of new potential Arctic-lower latitude weather linkages and implications for weather and climate predictions
The role of the Arctic in the global climate system is based on multiple processes unique to the Arctic, driven by modest global warming. Arctic temperatures continue to increase at least 3 times the rate of mid-latitude temperatures. Multiple feedbacks, such as clouds, loss of sea ice and snow cover, heat storage in the ocean, and atmospheric dynamics are a hypothesized cause for this phenomenon known as Arctic amplification. For example, more... more »
Mathis, J.T., J.G. Grebmeier, D.A. Hansell, R.R. Hopcroft, D.L. Kirchman, S.H. Lee, S.B. Moran, N.R. Bates, S. VanLaningham, J.N. Cross, and W.J. Cai (2014): Carbon biogeochemistry of the western Arctic: Primary production, carbon export and the controls on ocean acidification. In The Pacific Arctic Region: Ecosystem Status and Trends in a Rapidly Changing Environment, J.M. Grebmeier and W. Maslowski (eds.), Springer Science+Business Media, Dordrecht, 223–268.
The Arctic Ocean is an important sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) with a recent estimate suggesting that the region accounts for as much as 15 % of the global uptake of CO2. The western Arctic Ocean, in particular is a strong ocean sink for CO2, especially in the Chukchi Sea during the open water season when rates of primary production can reach as high as 150 g C m−2. The Arctic marine carbon cycle, the exchange of CO2 between... more »
Chen, K., L. Ciannelli, M.B. Decker, C. Ladd, W. Cheng, Z. Zhou, and K.-S. Chan (2014): Reconstructing source-sink dynamics in a population with a pelagic dispersal phase. PLoS ONE, 9(5), e95316, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095316.
Many marine species have a larval phase. In this phase, larvae drifts with the prevailing ocean currents before settling in nursery locations. In such cases, the spawning locations can be represented as sources and the settling locations of the juvenile or adult stages as sinks. Population connectivity and directionality of flow between sources and sinks can have important implications for management and conservation. The reconstruction of source-sink... more »
Hermann, A.J., G.A. Gibson, N.A. Bond, E.N. Curchitser, K. Hedstrom, W. Cheng, M. Wang, P.J. Stabeno, L. Eisner, and K.D. Cieciel (2013): A multivariate analysis of observed and modeled biophysical variability on the Bering Sea shelf: Multidecadal hindcasts (1970–2009) and forecasts (2010–2040).
It is a safe bet that the future will include a warmer Bering Sea. But it is uncertain exactly how climate change will be manifested, and in particular, how fast it will warm in summer versus winter, and in the north versus the south. Nevertheless, these details in the climate forcing are key in terms of their impacts on plankton distributions and types, and ultimately the entire marine ecosystem. The formidable problem of how climate change is liable to impact lower-trophic levels, i.e., the base of the food web, was tackled under the auspices of the Bering Sea Project using... more »
Overland, J. E., M. Wang, J. E. Walsh, and J. C. Stroeve (2013), Future Arctic climate changes: Adaptation and mitigation time scales, Earth’s Future, 2, doi:10.1002/2013EF000162.
The climate in the Arctic is changing faster than in midlatitudes. This is shown by increased temperatures, loss of summer sea ice, earlier snow melt, impacts on ecosystems, and increased economic access. Arctic sea ice volume has decreased by 75% since the 1980s. Long-lasting global anthropogenic forcing from carbon dioxide has increased over the previous decades and is anticipated to increase over the next decades. Temperature increases in response to greenhouse gases are amplified in the Arctic through feedback processes associated with shifts in albedo, ocean and land heat storage, and... more »