The 4th International Symposium for Arctic Science and the 3rd International Conference for Arctic Research Planning, the science symposium of Arctic Science Summit Week 2015 (ISAR-4/ICARPIII).

The 4th International Symposium for Arctic Research (ISAR-4) with the theme of “Rapid change of the Arctic climate system and its global influence” was held as the science symposium of the Arctic Science Summit Week 2015, together with the 3rd International Conference for Arctic Research Planning (ICARPIII) with the theme of “Integrating Arctic Research: a Roadmap for the Future,” in Toyama, Japan, from April 27 to April 30, 2015. There were 340 oral and 177 poster presentations, totalling 511 presentations. Among them, 38 papers were submitted to this special issue and 30 were accepted. 16 sessions in which those accepted papers were presented are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]