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Despite its political, regulatory, technical, and environmental challenges , the recent trend of ice melting in the Arctic region has caused the increase in international shipping activities. Accordingly, this is supported by research focusing on a wide variety of shipping issues in the Arctic. Surprisingly, this is not the case in Arctic port research. That being said, considering the role of ports in the development of maritime transportation and recent activities in the Arctic, it was critical to map academic and managerial implications of the research in such a terrain. In doing so, this study focused on research articles which addressed the subject since 1980. Through a systematic analysis, the spatial scale (i.e., foreland and maritime space (global), hinterland (regional/national), and port (local) scales), and functional perspective (i.e., space- related (locational), activity-related (operational) and consequence-related (impact) perspectives) of 38 representative articles were extracted and used. The findings suggest that, despite the historic similarity between Arctic shipping and Arctic port research, there was a widening gap between such trends in the last ten years, and at the same time, the contribution of Arctic port articles was very limited. Over the past years, the order of impact of Arctic port research was that the consequence-related global scale issues were highest followed by regional/national and local scales respectively. This was in contrast to port research, in which activity- related local scale research ranked the highest. Also, a comparison of research between Northern Sea Route (NSR) and the North West Passage (NWP) was carried out to understand the attitude of infrastructure holders along those routes. Investigation revealed that more than 70% of research was conducted on the NSR. Unlike the NWP, the research direction for the NSR followed a particular trend over the past four decades with the 2010-June 2019, dominated by consequence-related global scale research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the world's permafrost is located in the Arctic, where its frozen organic carbon content makes it a potentially important influence on the global climate system. The Arctic climate appears to be changing more rapidly than the lower latitudes, but observational data density in the region is low. Permafrost thaw and carbon release into the atmosphere, as well as snow cover changes, are positive feedback mechanisms that have the potential for climate warming. It is therefore particularly important to understand the links between the energy balance, which can vary rapidly over hourly to annual timescales, and permafrost conditions, which changes slowly on decadal to centennial timescales. This requires long-term observational data such as that available from the Samoylov research site in northern Siberia, where meteorological parameters, energy balance, and subsurface observations have been recorded since 1998. This paper presents the temporal data set produced between 2002 and 2017, explaining the instrumentation, calibration, processing, and data quality control. Furthermore, we present a merged data set of the parameters, which were measured from 1998 onwards. Additional data include a high-resolution digital terrain model (DTM) obtained from terrestrial lidar laser scanning. Since the data provide observations of temporally variable parameters that influence energy fluxes between permafrost, active-layer soils, and the atmosphere (such as snow depth and soil moisture content), they are suitable for calibrating and quantifying the dynamics of permafrost as a component in earth system models. The data also include soil properties beneath different microtopographic features (a polygon centre, a rim, a slope, and a trough), yielding much-needed information on landscape heterogeneity for use in land surface modelling. For the record from 1998 to 2017, the average mean annual air temperature was -12.3 ∘ C, with mean monthly temperature of the warmest month (July) recorded as 9.5 ∘ C and for the coldest month (February) -32.7 ∘ C. The average annual rainfall was 169 mm. The depth of zero annual amplitude is at 20.75 m. At this depth, the temperature has increased from -9.1 ∘ C in 2006 to -7.7 ∘ C in 2017. The presented data are freely available through the PANGAEA (10.1594/PANGAEA.891142) and Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/record/2223709 , last access: 6 February 2019) websites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results from ground-penetrating radar (GPR) measurements and shallow ice cores carried out during a scientific traverse between Dome Concordia (DC) and Vostok stations are presented in order to infer both spatial and temporal characteristics of snow accumulation over the East Antarctic Plateau. Spatially continuous accumulation rates along the traverse are computed from the identification of three equally spaced radar reflections spanning about the last 600 years. Accurate dating of these internal reflection horizons (IRHs) is obtained from a depth-age relationship derived from volcanic horizons and bomb testing fallouts on a DC ice core and shows a very good consistency when tested against extra ice cores drilled along the radar profile. Accumulation rates are then inferred by accounting for density profiles down to each IRH. For the latter purpose, a careful error analysis showed that using a single and more accurate density profile along a DC core provided more reliable results than trying to include the potential spatial variability in density from extra (but less accurate) ice cores distributed along the profile. The most striking feature is an accumulation pattern that remains constant through time with persistent gradients such as a marked decrease from 26mmw.e. yr-1 at DC to 20mmw.e. yr-1 at the south-west end of the profile over the last 234 years on average (with a similar decrease from 25 to 19mmw.e. yr-1 over the last 592 years). As for the time dependency, despite an overall consistency with similar measurements carried out along the main East Antarctic divides, interpreting possible trends remains difficult. Indeed, error bars in our measurements are still too large to unambiguously infer an apparent time increase in accumulation rate. For the proposed absolute values, maximum margins of error are in the range 4mmw.e. yr-1 (last 234 years) to 2mmw.e. yr-1 (last 592 years), a decrease with depth mainly resulting from the time-averaging when computing accumulation rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Winter 2016/2017 saw record warmth over the Arctic Ocean, leading to the least amount of freezing degree days north of 70° N since at least 1979. The impact of this warmth was evaluated using model simulations from the Los Alamos sea ice model (CICE) and CryoSat-2 thickness estimates from three different data providers. While CICE simulations show a broad region of anomalously thin ice in April 2017 relative to the 2011-2017 mean, analysis of three CryoSat-2 products show more limited regions with thin ice and do not always agree with each other, both in magnitude and direction of thickness anomalies. CICE is further used to diagnose feedback processes driving the observed anomalies, showing 11-13 cm reduced thermodynamic ice growth over the Arctic domain used in this study compared to the 2011-2017 mean, and dynamical contributions of C1 to C4 cm. Finally, CICE model simulations from 1985 to 2017 indicate the negative feedback relationship between ice growth and winter air temperatures may be starting to weaken, showing decreased winter ice growth since 2012, as winter air temperatures have increased and the freeze-up has been further delayed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using thresholds of physical climate variables developed from community observations, together with two large-scale datasets, we have produced local indices directly relevant to the impacts of a reduced sea ice cover on Alaska coastal communities. The indices include the number of "false freeze-ups" defined by transient exceedances of ice concentration prior to a corresponding exceedance that persists, "false break-ups", timing of freeze-up and break-up, length of the open water duration, number of days when the winds preclude hunting via boat (wind speed threshold exceedances), the number of wind events conducive to geomorphological work or damage to infrastructure from ocean waves, and the number of these wind events with onand along-shore components promoting water setup along the coastline. We demonstrate how community observations can inform use of large-scale datasets to derive these locally relevant indices. The two primary large-scale datasets are the Historical Sea Ice Atlas for Alaska and the atmospheric output from a regional climate model used to downscale the ERA-Interim atmospheric reanalysis. We illustrate the variability and trends of these indices by application to the rural Alaska communities of Kotzebue, Shishmaref, and Utqiaġgvik (previously Barrow), although the same procedure and metrics can be applied to other coastal communities. Over the 1979-2014 time period, there has been a marked increase in the number of combined false freeze-ups and false break-ups as well as the number of days too windy for hunting via boat for all three communities, especially Utqiaġvik. At Utqiaġvik, there has been an approximate tripling of the number of wind events conducive to coastline erosion from 1979 to 2014. We have also found a delay in freeze-up and earlier break-up, leading to a lengthened open water period for all of the communities examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major ions were analysed in firn and ice cores located at Fimbul Ice Shelf (FIS), Dronning Maud Land - DML, Antarctica. FIS is the largest ice shelf in the Haakon VII Sea, with an extent of approximately 36 500 km². Three shallow firn cores (about 20m deep) were retrieved in different ice rises, Kupol Ciolkovskogo (KC), Kupol Moskovskij (KM), and Blåskimen Island (BI), while a 100m long core (S100) was drilled near the FIS edge. These sites are distributed over the entire FIS area so that they provide a variety of elevation (50-400ma.s.l.) and distance (3-42 km) to the sea. Sea-salt species (mainly Na+ and Cl-) generally dominate the precipitation chemistry in the study region.We associate a significant sixfold increase in median sea-salt concentrations, observed in the S100 core after the 1950s, to an enhanced exposure of the S100 site to primary sea-salt aerosol due to a shorter distance from the S100 site to the ice front, and to enhanced sea-salt aerosol production from blowing salty snow over sea ice, most likely related to the calving of Trolltunga occurred during the 1960s. This increase in seasalt concentrations is synchronous with a shift in non-seasalt sulfate (nssSO42- ) toward negative values, suggesting a possible contribution of fractionated aerosol to the sea-salt load in the S100 core most likely originating from salty snow found on sea ice. In contrast, there is no evidence of a significant contribution of fractionated sea salt to the ice-rises sites, where the signal would be most likely masked by the large inputs of biogenic sulfate estimated for these sites. In summary, these results suggest that the S100 core contains a sea-salt record dominated by the proximity of the site to the ocean, and processes of sea ice formation in the neighbouring waters. In contrast, the ice-rises firn cores register a larger-scale signal of atmospheric flow conditions and a less efficient transport of sea-salt aerosols to these sites. These findings are a contribution to the understanding of the mechanisms behind sea-salt aerosol production, transport and deposition at coastal Antarctic sites, and the improvement of the current Antarctic sea ice reconstructions based on seasalt chemical proxies obtained from ice cores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a waveform mixture algorithm to detect leads from CryoSat-2 data, which is novel and different from the existing threshold-based lead detection methods. The waveform mixture algorithm adopts the concept of spectral mixture analysis, which is widely used in the field of hyperspectral image analysis. This lead detection method was evaluated with high-resolution (250 m) MODIS images and showed comparable and promising performance in detecting leads when compared to the previous methods. The robustness of the proposed approach also lies in the fact that it does not require the rescaling of parameters (i.e., stack standard deviation, stack skewness, stack kurtosis, pulse peakiness, and backscatter σ0), as it directly uses L1B waveform data, unlike the existing threshold-based methods. Monthly lead fraction maps were produced by the waveform mixture algorithm, which shows interannual variability of recent sea ice cover during 2011-2016, excluding the summer season (i.e., June to September).We also compared the lead fraction maps to other lead fraction maps generated from previously published data sets, resulting in similar spatiotemporal patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of Arctic studies is becoming increasingly rich in empirical material across a broad array of topics and relationships, encompassing multiple international actors, both littoral and extra-regional. This article reviews three recent books on the Arctic, focusing on the evaluation of the potential for conflict in the region. Climate change will have long-ranging repercussions in the Arctic, where complex situations and choices will loom large, creating scope for international tensions. The scholarship demonstrates that there is much 'old' in the 'new' narratives of the North but at the same time posits that the region has been significantly less confrontational in the post-Cold War era than many observers predicted. Yet the Arctic is not hermetically sealed from other regions: international developments as well as the foreign policy ambitions of individual states, sometimes as remote as China, have been affecting emerging governance arrangements. In combination, the 'spill-over effect' of international crises and efforts by individual states to engage in sovereignty-enhancing exercises risk reducing cooperation among the states which have until now managed to maintain stability in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, ocean acidification (OA) and the subsequent changes in marine productivity may affect fisheries and eventually the whole economy in the Arctic. We analysed how changes in climate and ocean pH under scenarios of anthropogenic CO2 emissions are likely to affect the economics of marine fisheries in the Arctic. We applied a Dynamic Bioclimate Envelope Model (DBEM) and outputs from four different Earth System Models (ESMs) to project future changes in the distribution and maximum catch potential of exploited marine fishes and invertebrates. We projected that total fisheries revenue in the Arctic region may increase by 39% (14-59%) by 2050 relative to 2000 under the Special Reports on Emission Scenario (SRES) A2. Simultaneously, total fishing costs, fishers' incomes, household incomes and economy-wide impacts in the Arctic are also projected to increase. Climate change with OA is expected to reduce the potential increases in catch and the economic indicators studied herein. Although the projections suggest that Arctic countries are likely to be 'winners' under climate change in comparison with tropical developing countries, the effects of OA will lower the expected future benefits in the Arctic. The predicted impacts are likely to be conservative as we consider only the direct effects of OA on fishes and calcifiers, of which there are only a few in the Arctic. Results of this study would be useful for designing effective adaptation strategies to climate change and measures to mitigate the potential negative impacts of OA in the Arctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA sequences offer powerful tools for describing the members and interactions of natural communities. In this study, we establish the to-date most comprehensive library of DNA barcodes for a terrestrial site, including all known macroscopic animals and vascular plants of an intensively studied area of the High Arctic, the Zackenberg Valley in Northeast Greenland. To demonstrate its utility, we apply the library to identify nearly 20 000 arthropod individuals from two Malaise traps, each operated for two summers. Drawing on this material, we estimate the coverage of previous morphology-based species inventories, derive a snapshot of faunal turnover in space and time and describe the abundance and phenology of species in the rapidly changing arctic environment. Overall, 403 terrestrial animal and 160 vascular plant species were recorded by morphology-based techniques. DNA barcodes ( CO1) offered high resolution in discriminating among the local animal taxa, with 92% of morphologically distinguishable taxa assigned to unique Barcode Index Numbers ( BINs) and 93% to monophyletic clusters. For vascular plants, resolution was lower, with 54% of species forming monophyletic clusters based on barcode regions rbcL a and ITS2. Malaise catches revealed 122 BINs not detected by previous sampling and DNA barcoding. The insect community was dominated by a few highly abundant taxa. Even closely related taxa differed in phenology, emphasizing the need for species-level resolution when describing ongoing shifts in arctic communities and ecosystems. The DNA barcode library now established for Zackenberg offers new scope for such explorations, and for the detailed dissection of interspecific interactions throughout the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the first data on the geology of a series of mafic dikes emplaced in the volcanogenic sedimentary sequence composing the structure of Jeannette Island. We show that the island hosts two generations of dikes consisting of fine-grained dolerites. Both magmatic stages were followed by fold deformations. The youngest and weakly deformed dikes are none the less chloritized and serpentinized. However, we were able to obtain the first ever precise geochronological Ar/Ar data for them. According to this analysis, the emplacement age of the intrusive complex of Jeannette Island is close to the Ediacaran (553.6 ± 10.3 Ma). The ages of several superimposed tectonothermal events were determined: Middle Ordovician (463.3 ± 11.7 Ma), Late Silurian (425.3 ± 8.7 Ma), Late Devonian (360.7 ± 8.3 Ma) and Early Carboniferous (341.3 ± 6.8 Ma). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Russian-American Long-term Census of the Arctic (RUSALCA) project provides a rare opportunity to study the Russian sector of the Pacific Arctic Region (PAR), which includes the Chukchi and East Siberian Seas. RUSALCA data from 2009 and 2012 allow fuller understanding of changes in ocean chemistry across this the region and, in particular, provide perspectives on the ocean carbon cycle, airsea CO2 gas exchange, and ocean acidification variability. Summertime surface waters of the western Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea mostly exhibited low pCO2 (<100 to 400 μatm) and high pH (8.0 to 8.4) conditions during sea ice retreat. As earlier studies of the adjacent eastern Chukchi Sea show, this area of the PAR had a strong potential for ocean uptake of atmospheric CO2, with saturation states for calcium carbonate (CaCO3) minerals such as calcite and aragonite (Ωcalcite and Ωaragonite, respectively) having values generally greater than two, thereby facilitating CaCO3 production. In contrast, fresher surface waters flowing into the Chukchi Sea from the East Siberian Sea and bottom waters on the PAR shelves exhibited high pCO2 and low pH, Ωcalcite, and Ωaragonite conditions. Low Ω surface waters near the Russian coast and nearly 70% of waters next to the seafloor were corrosive to CaCO3 minerals such as aragonite, with this change seemingly occurring at a more rapid rate than typical global open-ocean changes in ocean chemistry. The exposure of subsurface benthic communities and nearshore ecosystems near the Russian coast to potentially corrosive water is likely exacerbated by the ocean uptake of anthropogenic CO2 and gradual ocean acidification. The RUSALCA project also highlights the complexities and uncertainties in the physical and biogeochemical drivers of the ocean carbon cycle and ocean chemistry in this region of the Arctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An attempt has been made to derive sea ice freeboard from Ka-band Altimeter (SARAL/AltiKa) over Arctic region for 15 March–15 April 2013 (spring) and 15 September–15 October 2013 (autumn). A waveform template matching technique is employed for classification of leads and floe pixels. The estimated sea ice freeboards were found in close agreement with “Operation IceBridge quick look” freeboards (RMSD = 0.30 m). The differences between the two freeboards were largely due to snow layer over sea ice (R = 0.8). The estimated freeboards were of the order of 0.08–0.15 m during the two seasons. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the scientific publishing contributions of North America to the Nature Index database in 2014. Topics cited include the region's article and weight fractional count, the pattern of top five institutions' relative subject area distribution and collaborativeness and top three country collaborations, the initiative of the Canadian government to launch the Canadian High Arctic Research Station, and percentage of life science research in the U.S.

One of the challenging tasks in climate science is to understand the equator-to-pole temperature gradient. The poleward heat flux generated by baroclinic waves is known to be central in reducing the equator-to-pole temperature gradient from a state of radiative-convective equilibrium. However, invoking this relationship to explain the wide range of equator-to-pole temperature gradients observed in past climates is challenging because baroclinic waves tend to follow the flux-gradient relationship such that their poleward heat flux is proportional to the equator-to-pole temperature gradient and zonal available potential energy (ZAPE). With reanalysis data, the authors show the existence of poleward heat transport by planetary-scale waves that are independent of the flux-gradient relationship and baroclinic instability. This process arises from a forced tapping of atmospheric ZAPE by planetary-scale waves that are triggered by enhanced tropical convection over the Pacific warm pool region. The Rossby waves excited by this tropical convection propagate northeastward over the Pacific Ocean and constructively interfere with the climatological stationary waves at higher latitudes. During polar night, when the current warming is most rapid, the forced tapping of ZAPE by planetary-scale waves produces a substantially greater warming than that by the synoptic-scale eddy fluxes that presumably arise from baroclinic instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Britain is no longer an Arctic nation, but it has a unique Arctic role. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although much progress has been made with various Arctic Observing efforts, assessing that progress can be difficult. What data collection efforts are established or underway? Where? By whom? To help meet the strategic needs of programs such as the U.S. Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH), the Arctic Observing Network (AON), Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON), and related initiatives, an update has been released for the Arctic Observing Viewer (AOV; http://ArcticObservingViewer.org). This web mapping application and information system has begun to compile the who, what, where, and when for thousands of data collection sites (such as boreholes, ship tracks, buoys, towers, sampling stations, sensor networks, vegetation sites, stream gauges, and observatories) wherever marine, terrestrial, or atmospheric data are collected. Contributing partners for this collaborative resource include the U.S. NSF, ACADIS, ADIwg, AOOS, a2dc, AON, ARMAP, BAID, CAFF, IASOA, INTERACT, and others. While focusing on U.S. activities, the AOV welcomes information exchange with international groups for mutual benefit. Users can visualize, navigate, select, search, draw, print, and more. AOV is founded on principles of interoperability, with open metadata and web service standards, so that agencies and organizations can use AOV tools and services for their own purposes. In this way, AOV will reinforce and complement other distributed yet interoperable cyber-resources and will help science planners, funding agencies, researchers, data specialists, and others to assess status, identify overlap, fill gaps, optimize sampling design, refine network performance, clarify directions, access data, coordinate logistics, collaborate, and more in order to meet Arctic Observing goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a speech by Fran Ulmer, the chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, delivered at the periodical's symposium "North to the Future: Opportunities and Change in Alaska's Emerging Frontiers" held at the University of Alaska Anchorage, Alaska, in October 2014. Topics of the speech included the impact of climate change in the State of Alaska, the Arctic Research and Policy Act, and the oil and gas development in Alaska.

Eleven algorithms for the passive-microwave measurement of sea-ice were implemented and inter-compared. Daily, monthly and annual Arctic sea-ice concentration, area and extent were calculated by the algorithms using daily microwave brightness temperatures from SMMR, SSM/I, and SSMIS for the period 1979-2012. The differences between the 11 sea-ice concentration estimates-structural uncertainties-were quantified and analyzed spatially and seasonally. The algorithms differ in annual sea-ice area by 0.0-1.3 million km2 and in extent by 0.0-0.6 million km2. Linear trends for 34- and 21-year periods were calculated and compared for sea-ice concentration, area and extent. Low-frequency algorithms obtained annual Arctic sea-ice area decrease of 0.534-0.573 million km2 per decade (0.439-0.491 million km2 per decade for the extent) over the period 1979 to 2012, and a decrease of 0.866-0.975 million km2 per decade (0.767-0.812 million km2 per decade for the extent) for the 1992-2012 period. High-frequency algorithms obtained a decrease of 0.766-0.978 million km2 per decade in the area and 0.758-0.814 million km2 per decade in the extent over the period 1992-2012. Results for all the algorithms have close agreement on the strength of the negative trend in Arctic sea-ice area and extent, but are individually biased from the mean. The algorithms' ensemble mean and standard deviation in sea-ice concentration, describing part of the uncertainty, are presented to provide users with more insight into the uncertainties and potential biases of sea-ice concentration data. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Localized permafrost disturbances such as active layer detachments (ALDs) are increasing in frequency and severity across the Canadian Arctic impacting terrestrial ecosystem functioning. However, the contribution of permafrost disturbance-carbon feedbacks to the carbon (C) balance of Arctic ecosystems is poorly understood. Here, we explore the short-term impact of active layer detachments (ALDs) on carbon dioxide (CO) exchange in a High Arctic semi-desert ecosystem by comparing midday C exchange between undisturbed areas, moderately disturbed areas (intact islands of vegetation within an ALD), and highly disturbed areas (non-vegetated areas due to ALD). Midday C exchange was measured using a static chamber method between June 23 and August 8 during the 2009 and 2010 growing seasons. Results show that areas of high disturbance had significantly reduced gross ecosystem exchange and ecosystem respiration ( R) compared to control and moderately disturbed areas. Moderately disturbed areas showed significantly enhanced net ecosystem exchange compared to areas of high disturbance, but were not significantly different from control areas. Disturbance did not significantly impact soil thermal, physical or chemical properties. According to average midday fluxes, ALDs as a whole (moderately disturbed areas: −1.942 μmol m s+ highly disturbed areas: 2.969 μmol m s) were a small CO source of 1.027 μmol m s which did not differ significantly from average midday fluxes in control areas 1.219 μmol m s. The findings of this study provide evidence that the short-term impacts of ALDs on midday, net C exchange and soil properties in a High Arctic semi-desert are minimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bowhead whales generate low-frequency calls in shallow-water Arctic environments, whose dispersive propagation characteristics are well modeled by normal mode theory. As each mode propagates with a different group speed, a call's range can be inferred by the relative time-frequency dispersion of the modal arrivals. Traditionally, at close ranges modal arrivals are separated using synchronized hydrophone arrays. Here a nonlinear signal processing method called "warping" is used to filter the modes on just a single hydrophone. The filtering works even at relatively short source ranges, where distinct modal arrivals are not separable in a conventional spectrogram. However, this warping technique is limited to signals with monotonically increasing or decreasing frequency modulations, a relatively common situation for bowhead calls. Once modal arrivals have been separated, the source range can be estimated using conventional modal dispersion techniques, with the original source signal structure being recovered as a by-product. Twelve bowhead whale vocalizations recorded near Kaktovik (Alaska) in 2010, with signal-to-noise ratios between 6 and 23 dB, are analyzed, and the resulting single-receiver range estimates are consistent with those obtained independently via triangulation from widely-distributed vector sensor arrays. Geoacoustic inversions for each call are necessary in order to obtain the correct ranges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Scandinavian countries share a solid reputation as longstanding contributors to top level Arctic research. This received view, however, veils some deep-seated contrasts in the ways that Sweden, Norway, and Denmark have conducted research in the Arctic and the North Atlantic. In this paper it is argued that instead of focusing on the geographical determinism of science – the fact that the Arctic is close to, indeed part of, Scandinavian territories – we should look more closely at the geopolitics of science to understand the differences and similarities between these three Nordic countries. Through case studies of, mainly, Swedish Arctic and North Atlantic glaciology in the 1920s through to the 1940s, and of Norwegian preparations in the 1950s for the International Geophysical Year 1957/58, the paper demonstrates how different styles of research – research agendas, methodological choices, collaborative patterns, international networks, availability of infrastructure, relations to politics and power – are conditioned on economic interests and strategic and geopolitical trajectories, either these are explicitly put in the forefront of scientific priorities as in the case of Norway in the 1950s, or when they are manifestly disregarded in the name of scientific internationalism, as in the case of Swedish glaciology. The case of Danish colonial science in Greenland is only cursorily drawn into this analysis but corroborates the overall thesis. The analysis of this wider science politics of Scandinavian circumpolar science is exercised against a brief introductory backdrop of Arctic science historiography. Its chief message is that the analysis of polar science applying modern theory and method of the social studies of science is comparatively recent and that the full potential of merging the literature of Arctic science and exploration with those of security, geopolitics, indigenous voices, and the politics of nationalism is yet to be realized. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Arctic science is often claimed to have been transformed by the increased involvement of local people, but these claims of a new research paradigm have not been empirically evaluated. We argue that the "new" participatory research paradigm emerging in Arctic science embodies many of the principles of the Mode 2 knowledge production framework. Using the Mode 2 thesis as an assessment framework, we examined research articles appearing between 1965 and 2010 in the journal Arctic to assess the extent to which there has been a paradigm shift toward more participatory approaches. Results suggest that the involvement of local people has increased only slightly over the last half century and continues to vary systematically among disciplines, organizations, and regions. Analysis of three additional journals focused on Arctic and circumpolar science establishes the generality of these slight increases in local involvement. There is clearly room for more community involvement in Arctic science, but achieving this will require either increasing the proportional representation of the organizations, disciplines, and regions with a track record of successful Mode 2 research, or encouraging Mode 2 research innovation within the organizations, disciplines, and regions currently predominated by Mode 1 approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the 1930s through the 1950s--the decades bracketing the second and third international polar years--research in the physical and biological environmental sciences of the Arctic increased dramatically. The heroic, expedition-based style of Arctic science, dominant in the first decades of the twentieth century, gave way to a systematic, long-term, strategic and largely statefunded model of research which increased both Arctic presence and the volume of research output. Factors that made this change possible were distinct for each of the five circumpolar nation-states considered here. For Soviet leaders, the Arctic was an untamed land containing vast economic resources, all within reach if its long-sought Northern Sea Route became reality; Soviet officials sought environmental knowledge of this region with a range of motivations from economic and strategic concerns to enhancing the prestige of socialism. In contrast. United States officials largely ignored the Arctic until the outbreak of World War U, when military commanders quickly grasped the strategic importance of this region. Anxious that the Arctic might become a literal battleground between East and West by 1947, as the Cold War began. Pentagon leaders funded vast northern research programs, including in strategically located Greenland. Canadian leaders--while appreciating the national security concerns of its powerful southern neighbor--were even more concerned with maintaining sovereignty over its northern territories and gaining knowledge to assist its northern economic ambitions. Norway and Sweden, as smaller states, faced distinct challenges. With strong claims to Arctic heritage but limited resources, leaders of these states sought to create independent research strategies while, especially in the case of Norway, protecting their geopolitical interests in relation to the Soviet Union and the U.S. This article provides the first internationally comparative study of the multiple economic, military, political, and strategic factors that motivated scientific activities and programs in the far north, from the interwar period through World War II and the Cold War, when carefully coordinated, station-based research programs were introduced. The production of knowledge about Arctic's physical environment--including its changing climate--had little resemblance either to ideas of science-based 'progress,' or responses to perceived environmental concerns. Instead, it demonstrates that strategic military, economic, geopolitical, and national security concerns influenced and shaped most science undertakings, including those of the International Polar Year of 1932-1933 and the following polar year, the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While providing a brief background of the development of Scandinavian-Russian relations in the polar sciences in the early 20th century, this paper focuses on the period from the 1930s when the Swedish geographer Hans Ahlmann and Norwegian oceanographer Harald Ulrik Sverdrup developed a curiosity of the Soviet Union as a field for the practice of Arctic science. Visit of the Arctic Research Institute in Leningrad in 1934 further enhanced Ahlmann's sympathy and in 1935 he co-founded the Society for the Promotion of Cultural and Scientific Relations between Sweden and the Soviet Union. After further wartime collaboration, Ahlmann returned to the Soviet Union in 1958 and 1960 as president of the International Union of Geographical Sciences. Using his longtime Soviet contacts to penetrate the Iron Curtain, Ahlmann became a key figure in maintaining the flow of scientific information between East and West. New materials from archives open perspectives for better understanding of the international connections and transfer of knowledge in geophysical and geographical science in its formative period. The key message from this paper is that while tensions did exist and presented scientists with differential loyalties, they still managed to find ways to undertake fruitful scientific collaborations even under political restraints and could sometimes play political roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay underlines the timely Importance of research into historical geographies of science and technology as a basis for better understanding the emerging 'New' Arctic, where climate change has heightened international interest in northern navigation routes and mineral exploitation. It introduces five studies from two international collaborative research projects: 'Colony, Empire, Environment' (funded by the BOREAS Program, European Science Foundation) and 'Large-Scale Industrial Exploitation of Polar Areas' (LASHIPA, funded by the Dutch and Swedish Research Councils), situating them in terms of changing interpretations of the Arctic and its environment primarily since the late nineteenth century. With emphasis on the role of science and technology in the production of knowledge about the environment of the far north, these five studies highlight significant shifts in the conception and utilization of the Arctic - from heroic representations of Arctic exploration through the International Polar Year (1932-1933), the post-1945 militarization of the Arctic, the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958), and the subsequent recasting of the Arctic as a fragile environmental bellwether -- using comparative and transnational approaches to reconsider Arctic historical geographies of science and technology within the larger frameworks of recent regional, colonial, and postcolonial studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cryoconite holes have biogeochemical, ecological and biotechnological importance. This communication presents results on culturable psychrophilic bacterial diversity from cryoconite holes at Midre Lovénbreen (ML), Austre Brøggerbreen (AB), and Vestre Brøggerbreen (VB) glaciers. The culturable bacterial count ranged from 2.7 × 10 to 8.8 × 10 CFUs/g while the total bacterial numbers ranged from 5.07 × 10 to 1.50 × 10 cells at the three glaciers. A total of 35 morphologically distinct bacterial isolates were isolated. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence data, the identified species belonged to eight genera namely Pseudomonas, Polaromonas, Micrococcus, Subtercola, Agreia, Leifsonia, Cryobacterium and Flavobacterium. The isolates varied in their growth temperature, NaCl tolerance, growth pH, enzyme activities, carbon utilization and antibiotic sensitivity tests. Fatty acid profiles indicate the predominance of branched fatty acids in the isolates. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first record of culturable bacterial communities and their characterization from glacier cryoconites from High Arctic. High amylase and protease activities expressed by Micrococcus sp. MLB-41 and amylase, protease and lipase activities expressed by Cryobacterium sp. MLB-32 provide a clue to the potential applications of these organisms. These cold-adapted enzymes may provide an opportunity for the prospect of biotechnology in Arctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioaerosol can act as nuclei and thus may play an important role in climate change. During the Fourth Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition (CHINARE 2010) from July to September 2010, the concentrations and size distributions of airborne fungi, which are thought to be one of important bioaerosols, in the marine boundary layer were investigated. The concentrations of airborne fungi varied considerably with a range of 0 to 320.4 CFU/m³. The fungal concentrations in the marine boundary layer were significantly lower than those in most continental ecosystems. Airborne fungi over oceans roughly displayed a decreasing trend with increasing latitudes. The mean concentrations of airborne fungi in the region of offshore China, the western North Pacific Ocean, the Chukchi Sea, the Canada Basin, and the central Arctic Ocean were 172.2 ± 158.4, 73.8 ± 104.4, 13.3 ± 16.2, 16.5 ± 8.0, and 1.2 ± 1.0 CFU/m³, respectively. In most areas airborne fungi showed a unimodal size distribution pattern, with the maximum proportion (about 36.2%) in the range of 2.1~3.3 µm and the minimum proportion (about 3.5%) in the range of 0.65~1.1 µm, and over 50% occurred on the fine size (<3.3 µm). Potential factors influencing airborne fungal concentrations, including the origin of air mass, meteorological conditions, and sea ice conditions, were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The model-scale ice of the Aalto University ice tank is fine-grained ice, which is used in experimental research on Arctic marine structures. However, the behavior of model-scale ice is not much explored and a deeper understanding of the model-scale ice mechanics is required to appraise the validity of full-scale and model-scale ice property tests. Therefore, this paper presents a numerical model that accounts for the model-scale ice micro-structure and a variety of the physical effects under load. The numerical model accounts for the non-homogeneity of the model-scale ice and is based on damage mechanics. The basic mechanical properties, i.e. grain size, elastic strain-modulus, Poisson's ratio, compressive strength and tensile strength, are determined experimentally, and the free parameters of the damage model are determined based on experimental evidence and by reverse engineering until the compliance of the numerical and experimental response is achieved. Furthermore, the response sensitivity on variations of the Poisson's ratio and the non-homogeneities is analyzed. Ultimately, the failure stresses of the numerical model are compared with the experimentally-determined strength values. As a result, an experimentally-calibrated numerical model of the model-scale ice is obtained. In the future, this numerical model can be used to evaluate marine designs prior to testing, thus allowing for inexpensive simulation-based design of arctic marine structures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Spring snow cover across Arctic lands has, on average, retreated ~5 days earlier since the late 1980s compared to the previous 20 years. However, it appears that since about the late 1980s the date the snowline first retreats north during the spring has changed only slightly: in the last ~20 years snow has not been disappearing significantly earlier. Snowmelt changes observed since the late 1980s have been step-like, unlike the more continuous downward trend seen in Arctic sea-ice extent. At 70° N, several longitudinal segments (of 10 °) show significant (negative) trends, while only two longitudinal segments at 608N show significant trends, one positive and one negative. These variations appear to be related to variations in the Arctic Oscillation (AO). When the springtime AO is strongly positive, snow melts earlier. When it is strongly negative, snow disappears later in the spring. The winter AO is less straightforward. At higher latitudes (70 °N), a positive AO during the winter months is correlated with later snowmelt, but at lower latitudes (50 °N and 60 °N) a positive wintertime AO is correlated with earlier snowmelt. If the AO during the winter months is negative, the reverse is true. Similar stepwise changes (since the late 1980s) have been noted in sea surface temperatures and in phytoplankton abundance as well as in snow cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tectonic evolution of the Arctic Region in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic is considered with allowance for the Paleozoic stage of evolution of the ancient Arctida continent. A new geodynamic model of the evolution of the Arctic is based on the idea of the development of upper mantle convection beneath the continent caused by subduction of the Pacific lithosphere under the Eurasian and North American lithospheric plates. The structure of the Amerasia and Eurasia basins of the Arctic is shown to have formed progressively due to destruction of the ancient Arctida continent, a retained fragment of which comprises the structural units of the central segment of the Arctic Ocean, including the Lomonosov Ridge, the Alpha-Mendeleev Rise, and the Podvodnikov and Makarov basins. The proposed model is considered to be a scientific substantiation of the updated Russian territorial claim to the UN Commission on the determination of the Limits of the Continental Shelf in the Arctic Region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the summer of 2009, we sampled 14 partially refrozen melt ponds and the top 1 m of old ice in the pond vicinity for α-hexachlorocyclohexane (α-HCH) concentrations and enantiomer fractions (EFs) in the Beaufort Sea. α-HCH concentrations were 3 - 9 times higher in melt ponds than in the old ice. We identify two routes of α-HCH enrichment in the ice over the summer. First, atmospheric gas deposition results in an increase of α-HCH concentration from 0.07 ± 0.02 ng/L (old ice) to 0.34 ± 0.08 ng/L, or ~20% less than the atmosphere-water equilibrium partitioning concentration (0.43 ng/L). Second, late-season ice permeability and/or complete ice thawing at the bottom of ponds permit α-HCH rich seawater (~0.88 ng/L) to replenish pond water, bringing concentrations up to 0.75 ± 0.06 ng/L. α-HCH pond enrichment may lead to substantial concentration patchiness in old ice floes, and changed exposures to biota as the surface meltwater eventually reaches the ocean through various drainage mechanisms. Melt pond concentrations of α-HCH were relatively high prior to the late 1980-s, with a Melt pond Enrichment Factor >1 (MEF; a ratio of concentration in surface meltwater to surface seawater), providing for the potential of increased biological exposures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A flow-through sampler (FTS) was codeployed with a super high volume active sampler (SHV) between October 2007 and November 2008 to evaluate its ability to determine the ambient concentrations of pesticides and brominated flame retardants in the Canadian High Arctic atmosphere. Nine pesticides and eight flame retardants, including three polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) replacement chemicals, were frequently detected. Atmospheric concentrations determined by the two systems showed good agreement when compared on monthly and annually integrated time scales. Pesticide concentrations were normally within a factor of 3 of each other. The FTS tended to generate higher PBDE concentrations than the SHV presumably because of the entrainment of blowing snow/ice crystals or large particles. Taking into account uncertainties in analytical bias, sample volume, and breakthrough estimations, the FTS is shown to be a reliable and cost-effective method, which derives seasonally variable concentrations of semivolatile organic trace compounds at extremely remote locations that are comparable to those obtained by conventional high volume air sampling. Moreover, the large sampling volumes captured by the FTS make it suitable for the screening of new and emerging chemicals in the remote atmosphere where concentrations are usually low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the study that evaluates the hypotheses about avian cholera reservoirs and origins and the ecology of the disease in common eider populations in the eastern Canadian Arctic. The study concerns that the Arctic ecosystems are undergoing important ecological changes such as increasing development pressure and rapidly changing climate. It suggests that avian cholera outbreaks have a negative effect on reproduction and duckling survival.

Satellite data have revealed dramatic losses of Northern Hemisphere sea ice since the end of the 1970s. To place these changes in a longer-term context, we draw on daily observations taken from logbooks and journals of whaling vessels cruising in the Bering and Chukchi seas to investigate sea-ice conditions in this region of the Arctic between 1850 and 1910. We compare these observations to sea-ice data from 1972 to 1982, which predate the majority of the recent changes and cover a period recognized as a relative maximum in recent Bering Sea ice extent. Records from May indicate that end-of-winter sea-ice extent in the Bering Sea during the mid 19th century closely resembled that in the 1972 - 82 data. However, the historical data reveal that sea ice was more extensive during summer, with the greatest difference occurring in July. This pattern indicates a later and more rapid seasonal retreat. These conclusions highlight the value of historical data, which we have far from exhausted in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multi-year experiment in which zooplankton species were manipulated in 12 ponds indicated that the presence of the carnivorous copepod Heterocope septentrionalis eliminated Daphnia pulex whenever H. septentrionalis became established. In contrast, the congener D. middendorffiana was able to persist only in ponds where H. septentrionalis became established. The fact that Daphnia middendorffiana could not successfully colonize ponds that did not contain H. septentrionalis indicates that this predator was necessary for D. middendorffiana to thrive. These results suggest that D. pulex is able to outcompete D. middendorffiana when H. septentrionalis is absent. Pond size was a key determinant of colonization success, in that H. septentrionalis and D. middendorffiana were able to persist only in ponds with volumes greater than 10 m3. Results of these investigations support the pattern of zooplankton community composition observed in ponds in the western Nearctic and provide insight into the mechanisms responsible for these observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Ensuring interoperability between WebGIS applications is essential for maximizing access to data, data sharing, and data manipulation. Interoperability is maximized through the adoption of best practices, use of open standards, and utilization of spatial data infrastructure (SDI). While many of the interoperability challenges like infrastructure, data exchange, and file formats are common between applications, some regions like the Arctic present specific challenges including the need for presenting data in one or more polar projections. This paper describes the Arctic Research Mapping Application (ARMAP) suite of online interactive maps, web services, and virtual globes (the ARMAP suite; http://armap.org/) and several of the interoperability challenges and solutions encountered in development to date. ARMAP is a unique science and logistic tool supporting United States and international Arctic science by providing users with the ability to access, query, and browse information and data. Access to data services include a text-based search utility, an Internet Map Server client (ArcIMS), a lightweight Flex client, ArcGIS Explorer and Google Earth virtual globes, and Open Geospatial Consortium () compliant web services, such as Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS). Through the ARMAP suite, users can view a variety of Arctic map layers and explore pertinent information about United States Arctic research efforts. The Arctic Research Logistics Support Service (ARLSS) database is the informational underpinning of ARMAP. Avoiding duplication of effort has been a key priority in the development of the ARMAP applications. The ARMAP suite incorporates best practices that facilitate interoperability such as Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata standards, web services for embedding external data and serving framework layers, and open standards such as Open Geospatial Consortium () compliant web services. Many of the features and capabilities of ARMAP are expected to greatly enhance the development of an Arctic SDI. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Immobilization to the atmosphere of only a small fraction of the methane held in East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) sediments could trigger abrupt climate warming, yet it is believed that sub-sea permafrost acts as a lid to keep this shallow methane reservoir in place. Here, we show that more than 5000 at-sea observations of dissolved methane demonstrates that greater than 80% of ESAS bottom waters and greater than 50% of surface waters are supersaturated with methane regarding to the atmosphere. The current atmospheric venting flux, which is composed of a diffusive component and a gradual ebullition component, is on par with previous estimates of methane venting from the entire World Ocean. Leakage of methane through shallow ESAS waters needs to be considered in interactions between the biogeosphere and a warming Arctic climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines whether cold climate is related to poorer health in diverse Arctic populations. The research involves finding the mean January and July temperatures for 27 Arctic regions based on weather station data from 1961-1990 and its relation to health outcome assessed by correlation and multiple linear analyses. Furthermore, it shows that cold climate is related to infant deaths, deaths from respiratory diseases, and total fertility rate.