Search

Participatory scenario methodologies are increasingly used for studying possible future developments in the Arctic. They have the potential to contribute to several high-priority tasks for Arctic research, such as integration of indigenous and local knowledge in futures studies, providing a platform for activating Arctic youth in shaping their futures, identifying Arctic-relevant indicators for sustainable development, and supporting decision-making towards sustainable futures. Yet, to achieve this potential, several methodological challenges need to be addressed. These include attention to whose voices are amplified or silenced in participatory research practices, with special attention to diversification and the engagement of youth. Given the historic and potential future role of disruptive events for Arctic development trajectories, methods are needed in participatory scenario exercises to include attention to the dynamics and consequences of such events and regime shifts. Participatory scenarios can also be further improved through approaches that effectively combine qualitative and quantitative information. Finally, there is a need for systematic studies of how the results of scenario exercises influence decision-making processes. This article elaborates on ways in which attention to these aspects can help make scenarios more robust for assessing a diversity of potential Arctic futures in times of rapid environmental and social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arctic is among the world’s regions most affected by ongoing and increasing cultural, socio-economic, environmental and climatic changes. Over the last two decades, scholars, policymakers, extractive industries, local, regional and national governments, intergovernmental forums, and non-governmental organizations have turned their attention to the Arctic, its peoples and resources, and to challenges and benefits of impending transformations. The International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP) has now transpired three times, most recently in April 2015 with ICARP III. Arctic sustainability is an issue of increasing concern within the Arctic and beyond it, including in ICARP endeavors. This paper reports some of the key findings of a white paper prepared by an international and interdisciplinary team as part of the ICARP-III process, with support from the International Arctic Science Committee Social and Human Sciences Working Group, the International Arctic Social Sciences Association and the Arctic-FROST research coordination network. Input was solicited through sharing the initial draft with a broader network of researchers, including discussion and feedback at several academic and community venues. This paper presents a progress report on Arctic sustainability research, identifies related knowledge gaps and provides recommendations for prioritizing research for the next decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The value of theory in drawing lessons from empirical cases remains elusive in the Arctic. In the introduction to this special issue, we develop broad theoretical underpinnings to consider how frame analysis can better inform Arctic research. We build on a research synthesis from a collaborative anthology focused on diplomacy in polar regions [Pincus, R., & Ali, S. H. (Eds.). (2015).Diplomacy on ice: Energy and the environment in the Arctic and Antarctic. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press]. Here, we review aspects of media and communication theory, in particular frame theory, and contextualize theoretically the common tropes of Arctic political conflict, centered on the so-called race or scramble for the Arctic. After introducing and identifying concepts of framing and discourse and discussing how these concepts are relevant to Arctic issues, the paper will address why these concepts are important to policy-makers, stakeholders, and the public. What are the impacts of conflict-driven frames as applied to Arctic sovereignty or development questions? We explore how frames impact diplomacy in contested spaces, such as the Arctic, and how to draw cooperative lessons from these discourses. Finally, the papers that make up this special edition are placed in relation to the broader topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use demographic and economic indicators to analyze spatial differences and temporal trends across 18 regions surrounding the Arctic Ocean. Multifactor and cluster analysis were used on 10 indicators reflecting income, employment and demography from 1995 to 2008. The main difference is between regions with high population densities, low natural growth rate, and low unemployment (Russia, Norway and Iceland) and regions with high unemployment rate and high natural growth rate (mainly North American regions). However, once those parameters were accounted for sub-regional differences start to emerge. Variation among the regions was a result of national policies and regional differences such as access and presence of natural resources (i.e. oil, gas, mining, etc.). We found only weak temporal trends, but regions with resource extraction show some signs of higher volatility. Overall, the Arctic has experienced out-migration with only Iceland and two regions in Canada experiencing in-migration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]

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

“Race for the Arctic” and the “New Cold War” are common newspaper headlines when it comes to coverage of Arctic affairs. In popular media, the Arctic is often portrayed as a zone of potential conflict – with unresolved boundary issues, rapidly changing sea ice cover and tempting natural resources forming a potentially explosive political cocktail. On the other hand, the region possesses a strong track record of post-Cold War peace and cooperation and political leaders and civil servants representing Arctic states have, in recent years, become a coordinated chorus extolling the peacefulness of the region. This article illustrates how the Arctic is represented as a zone of potential conflict in the media through a sampling of international media and an in-depth case study of how the potential for Arctic conflict is discussed in a mainstream Russian newspaper. I argue that these different ‘framings’ or representations of Arctic politics have significance for the kind of politics that can be pursued in the region and discuss how a certain kind of geopolitical reasoning contributes to seeing the Arctic as a latent space of danger and conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author argues that the involvement of Asian countries in the affairs of Arctic would build up international governance efforts in domains such as sustainable development, protection of the environment and safety at sea. He states several interests of Asian countries in of Arctic such as establishment of research station in 1990 by Japan and companies from China, Japan and Korea are working on Norwegian continental shelf.

Blubber was analyzed for a wide range of contaminants from five subadult and eight adult male ringed seals sampled in 2004, namely, for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), toxaphenes, chlordanes, dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs). Contaminant levels were compared to previously sampled animals from the same area, as well as data from literature for other arctic wildlife species from a wide variety of locations. Ringed seals sampled in 2004 showed 50-90% lower levels of legacy contaminants such as PCBs and chlorinated pesticides compared to animals sampled in 1996 of similar age (14 subadults and 7 adult males), indicating that the decline of chlorinated contaminants observed during the 1990s in a variety of arctic wildlife species is continuing into the 21st century. The results also indicated that PBDE declined in ringed seals; levels in 2004 were about 70-80% lower than in animals sampled in 1998. This is one of the first observations of reduced exposure to these compounds and might be a first indication that restrictions of production and use of these contaminants have resulted in lower exposures in the Arctic. The PCB pattern shifted toward the less chlorinated (i.e., less persistent) PCBs, especially in adult ringed seals, possibly as a result of reduced overall contaminant exposures and a consequently lower cytochrome P-450 (CYP) induction, which results in a slower metabolism of less persistent PCBs. The overall effect would be relative increases in the lower chlorinated PCBs and a relative decreases in the higher chlorinated PCB. Possibly due to low exposure and consequent low induction levels, ethoxyresorufin O-deethylation (EROD) activity proved to be a poor biomarker for contaminant exposure in ringed seals in the present study. The close negative correlation (r2 = 70.9%)between EROD activity and percent blubber indicates that CYP might respond to increased bioavailability of the contaminant mixtures when they are mobilized from blubber during periods of reduced food intake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The brominated flame retardants hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) are high-production-volume chemicals. In recent years, their presence has been reported in sediment and biota from the marine environment. In this study, an analytical method was developed for the simultaneous determination of HBCD, TBBPA, and the possible metabolite dimethyl-TBBPA. The method was applied in a preliminary screening of egg, liver, and adipose tissue of marine biota from Greenland and the Faroe Islands. α-HBCD was detected in 35 of 36 analysed samples from the Arctic, indicating a ubiquitous presence of α-HBCD in the environment. β- and γ-HBCD were found in 10 and 14 samples, respectively. TBBPA and dimethyl-TBBPA were not detected in any of the samples indicating limited or no transport of these compounds to remote areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date glacial and periglacial landforms, lichenometry is a valuable method but, to improve efficiency, the estimated surface dates derived from traditional methods need to be more accurate. In other words, the statistical uncertainty associated with inferred dates has to be reduced. How to perform such a reduction is the main question that we will address in this paper. An interdisciplinary approach (lichenometry and statistics) allows reduction in the main sources of uncertainty: lichen diameters and their associated ages. Around 2600 lichen measurements collected on moraines from the Charquini glacier in Bolivia (Cordillera Real) are used to illustrate the advantages of our approach over past studies. As for any statistical estimation procedure, the error analysis in lichenometry is directly linked to the type of observations and the statistical model used to represent accurately these data. The attribute of lichenometry studies is that the measurements are not averages but maxima; only the largest lichen diameters provide information about the surface ages. To take this characteristic into account, we propose a novel statistical way to model maximum lichen diameters. Our model, based on the extreme value theory, allows us to compute small confidence intervals for the inferred surface ages. In addition, it offers three other advantages: (1) a global statistical model, as all our data (dated surfaces and all lichen maximum diameters) are represented with a unique function; (2) a mathematical framework within which the maximum lichen distribution is derived from a statistical theory; and (3) flexibility, as different types of growing curves can be investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to show how national interests and western ideas about the polar wilderness influenced initiatives taken in the early decades of the twentieth century to protect the natural environment of the Arctic islands of Spitsbergen, today called Svalbard. After a brief outline of the environmental history of the islands, the explanatory significance of a game theory-based assumption about the predicament of nature conservation on common land is discussed by applying it to this historical case. It is the environmental dilemma known as the “tragedy of the commons”. Some elements of the western and Scandinavian ideological interpretations of the Arctic nature are introduced as a background to the following discussion of the most significant early initiative of nature conservation in the Arctic: Hugo Conwentz's proposal for the protection of the nature of Spitsbergen of 1914. The conception and outcome of Conwentz's initiative is explained by references to the political, social and ideological contexts of early twentieth-century science and colonialism. In the final section, the post-war development of the environmental administration of the islands is correlated to the political situation following World War I with its many historical contingencies and the breakdown of internationalism in science and nature conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A calendar of events related to Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine research from March 2010 to December 2014 is presented which includes the 2010 Alaska Weather Symposium in Fairbanks, the 14th Alpine Glaciology Meeting in Milan, Italy and the Workshop on Cold Regions Hydrology in Innsbruck, Austria.

Engaging community partners to work as co-researchers and research assistants for research involving Inuit communities or regions helps to ensure the equitable recognition of community and researcher priorities, mutual trust and respect, participation by local participants, inclusion of local knowledge and local uptake of research findings. However, research knowledge still in development among community members has been described as a barrier to effective Arctic community research partnerships. This paper describes two 3-day, cross-cultural research training workshops held in the Nunavut communities of Arviat and Iqaluit during Spring 2017. The purpose was to encourage reciprocity as a basis for research training that incorporates both Western and Inuit approaches and that emphasises relationship building to benefit both Inuit and non-Inuit research communities. A review of participant responses to the workshops suggests value in using an integrated Western-Inuit framework of educational objectives to guide the training. Responses suggest the workshops helped improve understanding of research practices and ethics rooted in different traditions for participants interested in assisting with or conducting research in Canada's Arctic communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about the issue of the periodical “Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research: An Interdisciplinary Journal", which includes the editorial board list, cover caption, subscription information and editorial policy.

The cover page of the journal "Arctic, Antarctic & Alpine Research (AAAR)" is presented.

A calendar of events for Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine research is presented which includes Lessons from Continuity and Change in the Fourth International Polar Year, 3rd International IGBP PAGES Focus V (old) LIMPACS Conference 2009--Holocene Lakes: Climatic Instability and Salinlzation, and International Scientific Congress on Climate Change--Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions.

Provides information on various fields of Arctic research carried out through the Arctic Institute of North America. Awarded fellowships; Study of the nesting habits of the Canada Goose in the James Bay region conducted by Harold C. Hanson; Study of the Eskimos on Nunivak Island, Alaska by Margaret Lantis.

Reports on additional findings to the 1998 report, 'Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program,' which concluded that the Arctic region received contaminants from sources outside the region. Findings released in 'Arctic Pollution 2002' report including the contamination of species with persistent organic pollution (POP) levels; How the highest concentrations of POP are found in polar bears, killer whales and harp seals; Birds with POP including great skuas, glaucous gulls and peregrine falcons; Mercury deposition in the Arctic region.