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The Fennoscandian boreal and mountain regions harbour a wide range of vegetation types, from boreal forest to high alpine tundra and barren soils. The area is facing a rise in air temperature above the global average and changes in temperature and precipitation patterns. This is expected to alter the Fennoscandian vegetation composition and change the conditions for areal land use such as forestry, tourism and reindeer husbandry. In this study we used a unique high-resolution (3 km) climate scenario with considerable warming resulting from strongly increasing carbon dioxide emissions to investigate how climate change can alter the vegetation composition, biodiversity and availability of suitable reindeer forage. Using a dynamical vegetation model, including a new implementation of potential reindeer grazing, resulted in simulated vegetation maps of unprecedented high resolution for such a long time period and spatial extent. The results were evaluated at the local scale using vegetation inventories and for the whole area against satellite-based vegetation maps. A deeper analysis of vegetation shifts related to statistics of threatened species was performed in six hotspot areas containing records of rare and threatened species. In this high-emission scenario, the simulations show dramatic shifts in the vegetation composition, accelerating at the end of the century. Alarmingly, the results suggest the southern mountain alpine region in Sweden will be completely covered by forests at the end of the 21st century, making preservation of many rare and threatened species impossible. In the northern alpine regions, most vegetation types will persist but shift to higher elevations with reduced areal extent, endangering vulnerable species. Simulated potential for reindeer grazing indicates latitudinal differences, with higher potential in the south in the current climate. In the future these differences will diminish, as the potentials will increase in the north, especially f

Microbial sulfate reduction (MSR), which transforms sulfate into sulfide through the consumption of organic matter, is an integral part of sulfur and carbon cycling. Yet, the knowledge on MSR magnitudes is limited and mostly restricted to snap-shot conditions in specific surface water bodies. Potential impacts of MSR have consequently been unaccounted for, e.g., in regional or global weathering budgets. Here, we synthesize results from previous studies on sulfur isotope dynamics in stream water samples and apply a sulfur isotopic fractionation and mixing scheme combined with Monte Carlo simulations to derive MSR in entire hydrological catchments. This allowed comparison of magnitudes both within and between five study areas located between southern Sweden and the Kola Peninsula, Russia. Our results showed that the freshwater MSR ranged from 0 to 79 % (interquartile range of 19 percentage units) locally within the catchments, with average values from 2 to 28 % between the catchments, displaying a non-negligible catchment-average value of 13 %. The combined abundance or deficiency of several landscape elements (e.g., the areal percentage of forest and lakes/wetlands) were found to indicate relatively well whether or not catchment-scale MSR would be high. A regression analysis showed specifically that average slope was the individual element that best reflected the MSR magnitude, both at sub-catchment scale and between the different study areas. However, the regression results of individual parameters were generally weak. The MSR-values additionally showed differences between seasons, in particular in wetland/lake dominated catchments. Here MSR was high during the spring flood, which is consistent with the mobilization of water that under low-flow winter periods have developed the needed anoxic conditions for sulfate-reducing microorganisms. This study presents for the first time compelling evidence from multiple catchments of wide-spread MSR at levels slightly above 1

On the remote Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, there is increasing evidence of environmental impacts from climate change. The analysis of lake sedimentary records can be used to assess how strongly these recent changes have altered lake ecosystems. Sediments deposited during the last millennium from Lake Blokkvatnet, Prins Karls Forland, were analysed using a multiproxy approach, including stable isotope and X-ray fluorescence analysis. The results were interpreted as reflecting variability of (1) soil organic matter inwash, and potentially catchment and lake primary production, and (2) catchment weathering and erosion. Organic content began increasing after 1920 AD to the present, likely in response to warming. Earlier peaks of a similar magnitude occurred on three occasions since 1300 AD, with evidence indicating that these may have coincided with multidecadal-scale periods with higher temperatures, reduced sea ice and negative phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation. Catchment weathering and fluvial erosion began to increase around 1800 AD and peaked during the early twentieth century, potentially due to rising temperatures in autumn and winter causing increased liquid water availability. The records suggest that similar levels of erosion and weathering occurred between approximately 1300 and 1600 AD, spanning the transition from the Medieval Climate Anomaly to the Little Ice Age.

Reindeer and reindeer herders in the circumpolar North are exposed to harsh and often hard-to-predict weather conditions. Herding communities have previously adapted to these external disturbances by flexible pasture use, seasonal mobility, changing herding practices, diversifying livelihoods and continuously developing traditional or experience-based knowledge. However, few places in the world experience ongoing climate change as clearly and rapidly as the high northern latitudes. The effects of climate change and increased frequency of extreme weather events are transforming the biophysical environment of reindeer husbandry. These changes challenge the adaptive capacity of herders who operate in a landscape they share with, and which is highly impacted by, other forms of land use. Thus, sociopolitical factors play a major role in developing adaptation strategies that are perceived as desirable and possible. This chapter summarizes the observed and expected changes in climate and impacts thereof within the reindeer herding area (RHA) of northern Fennoscandia. The chapter further presents a range of strategies adopted by herders to cope with adverse, seasonal weather conditions and indirect impacts of climate change. Finally, it situates these strategies in the context of more proactive and institutional adaptation.

More accurate snow quality predictions are needed to economically and socially support communities in a changing Arctic environment. This contrasts with the current availability of affordable and efficient snow monitoring methods. In this study, a novel approach is presented to determine spatial snow depth distribution in challenging alpine terrain that was tested during a field campaign performed in the Tarfala valley, Kebnekaise mountains, northern Sweden, in April 2019. The combination of a multispectral camera and an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was used to derive three-dimensional (3D) snow surface models via Structure from Motion (SfM) with direct georeferencing. The main advantage over conventional photogrammetric surveys is the utilization of accurate Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) positioning which enables direct georeferencing of the images, and therefore eliminates the need for ground control points. The proposed method is capable of producing high-resolution 3D snow-covered surface models (<7 cm/pixel) of alpine areas up to eight hectares in a fast, reliable and affordable way. The test sites’ average snow depth was 160 cm with an average standard deviation of 78 cm. The overall Root-Mean-Square Errors (RMSE) of the snow depth range from 11.52 cm for data acquired in ideal surveying conditions to 41.03 cm in aggravated light and wind conditions. Results of this study suggest that the red components in the electromagnetic spectrum, i.e., the red, red edge, and near-infrared (NIR) band, contain the majority of information used in photogrammetric processing. The experiments highlighted a significant influence of the multi-spectral imagery on the quality of the final snow depth estimation as well as a strong potential to reduce processing times and computational resources by limiting the dimensionality of the imagery through the application of a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) before the photogrammetric 3D reconstruction. The proposed method is part of clo

In this article, we present results from a palaeolimnological study from Lake Vuoksjavratje in the mountain tundra region in the Vindelfjallen Mountains, northwest Sweden. We suggest that the influence of precipitation may be one of the factors causing discrepancies between chironomid-based late-Holocene July temperature (JulyT) reconstructions from Fennoscandia. We combine quantitative temperature reconstruction using chironomids for the last 5100 years with qualitative analysis of chironomid composition and geochemical analyses, such as x-ray fluorescence (XRF), total organic carbon (TOC) and C/N analysis. The studied sequence is dated by Pb-210, Cs-137 and 11 C-14 datings from terrestrial macrofossils. The aim of the study was to use chironomids to reconstruct late-Holocene summer temperature variation on a multi-centennial to centennial timescale and to use geochemical data to identify periods during which the changes in chironomid composition might have been forced by environmental variables other than temperature, such as within lake processes or precipitation. Based on ordination techniques, and a comparison between chironomid-inferred JulyTs and changes in minerogenic sedimentation with regional temperature and wetness records, it is concluded that the JulyT signal was modulated by precipitation. The proxies indicate that both JulyT and annual precipitation have influenced the chironomid communities in Lake Vuoksjavratje, and that catchment-related processes caused by enhanced precipitation have overridden the summer temperature signal between 3000 and 2200 cal. yr BP, and between 1050 and 100 cal. yr BP., AuthorCount:3

Here we present delta P-18(diatom) data from two high-latitude lakes; one has short residence time and a water isotopic composition (delta O-18(lake)) that fluctuate due to seasonal variations in precipitation and temperature, and the other has delta O-18(lake) that is influenced by longer lake water residence times and evaporation. The delta O-18(diatom) records reveal common responses to precipitation forcing over the past millennium. Relatively wet summers are inferred from delta O-18(diatom) between 1000 and 1080 AD, 1300 and 1440 AD, and during the early 19th century, coincided with periods of high cloud cover inferred from tree-ring carbon isotopes, and other data for high Arctic Oscillation index. While relatively dry summers with increasing influence of winter snow are indicated between 1600 and 1750 AD. The co-response between carbon isotopes in trees and oxygen isotopes in diatoms strengthens the relationship between cloud cover and precipitation and the hypothesis that these changes were the result of significant regional shifts in atmospheric circulation. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Waters from high-altitude alpine lakes are mainly recharged by meteoric water. Because of seasonal variations in precipitation and temperature and relatively short hydraulic residence times, most high-altitude lakes have lake water isotopic compositions (δ18Olake) that fluctuate due to seasonality in water balance processes. Input from snowmelt, in particular, has a significant role in determining lake water δ18O. Here we compare two high-resolution δ18Odiatom records from lake sediments in the Swedish Scandes with instrumental data from the last century obtained from nearby meteorological stations. The time period AD 1900–1990 is characterised by an increase in winter precipitation and high winter/summer precipitation ratios and this is recorded in δ18Odiatom as decreasing trends. Lowest δ18Odiatom values and highest amount of winter precipitation are found around AD 1990 when the winter North Atlantic Oscillation index was above +2. We conclude that for the last 150 a the main factor affecting the δ18Odiatom signal in these sub-Arctic high-altitude lakes with short residence times has been changes in amount of winter precipitation and that δ18Odiatom derived from high-altitude lakes in the Swedish Scandes can be used as a winter precipitation proxy

Waters from high-altitude alpine lakes are mainly recharged by meteoric water. Because of seasonal variations in precipitation and temperature and relatively short hydraulic residence times, most high-altitude lakes have lake water isotopic compositions (δ18Olake) that fluctuate due to seasonality in water balance processes. Input from snowmelt, in particular, has a significant role in determining lake water δ18O. Here we compare two high-resolution δ18Odiatom records from lake sediments in the Swedish Scandes with instrumental data from the last century obtained from nearby meteorological stations. The time period AD 1900–1990 is characterised by an increase in winter precipitation and high winter/summer precipitation ratios and this is recorded in δ18Odiatom as decreasing trends. Lowest δ18Odiatom values and highest amount of winter precipitation are found around AD 1990 when the winter North Atlantic Oscillation index was above +2. We conclude that for the last 150 a the main factor affecting the δ18Odiatom signal in these sub-Arctic high-altitude lakes with short residence times has been changes in amount of winter precipitation and that δ18Odiatom derived from high-altitude lakes in the Swedish Scandes can be used as a winter precipitation proxy. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.