Arctic - Science topic

Climate change is an essential topic in climate science, and the accessibility of accurate, high-resolution datasets in recent years has facilitated the extraction of more insights from big-data resources. Nonetheless, current research predominantly focuses on mean-value changes and largely overlooks changes in the probability distribution. In this...

River management should secure conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of aquatic resources. Conservation of fish populations requires time‐series data on the number of fish present and the size‐structure. The number of fish and species composition can be resolved by video‐surveillance, but detailed measurements of body size often come fro...

Nowadays, the Arctic is one of the regions of the world most affected by the global climate change. Consequently, the study of microclimatic conditions of Arctic cities and towns, where resides most of the population, becomes a scientific problem of great importance, while being compounded by the lack of verified meteorological data. This research...

The high latitudes cover ∼20% of Earth's land surface. This region is facing many shifts in thermal, moisture and vegetation properties, driven by climate warming. Here we leverage remote sensing and climate reanalysis records to improve understanding of changes in ecosystem indicators. We applied non‐parametric trend detections and Getis‐Ord Gi* s...

Arctic amplification of climate change has resulted in increased coastal hazards impacts to remote rural coastal communities in Alaska where conducting research can be difficult, requiring alternate methods for measuring change. The pilot program, Stakes for Stakeholders, was initially planned to be funded from 2016-2018. Upon project completion th...

Operational wave forecasts for the Great Lakes originate from the NOAA Great Lakes Waves Unstructured version 2 system. The model uses a simple ice blocking (IC0) parameterization for ice‐wave damping, so ice‐covered portions of the lakes are treated as land in the modeling system. Although simple and effective, the simple block can impede forecast...

A thermohaline staircase detection algorithm, applied to mooring and ice‐tethered profiler data, systematically assessed the variability of fine‐scale, diffusive‐convective staircase abundance in the Arctic Ocean thermoclines in 2004–2023. Over that period, staircase occurrence statistically decreased in both the Amerasian and Eurasian basins, with...

Plain Language Summary Anthropogenic greenhouse gases have caused dramatic changes in the northern high‐latitudes. Specifically, the Arctic climate has experienced significantly greater warming compared to the global mean in recent decades when greenhouse gases concentration increases in the atmosphere. This phenomenon, known as Arctic amplificatio...

The exploration and exploitation of Arctic resources necessitate sustainable and environmentally conscious approaches due to the region's fragile ecosystem and extreme conditions. This study examines eco-friendly friction reduction solutions (FRSs) designed to enhance drilling efficiency while minimizing environmental impact in harsh Arctic environ...

The exploration and exploitation of Arctic resources necessitate sustainable and environmentally conscious approaches due to the region's fragile ecosystem and extreme conditions. This study examines eco-friendly friction reduction solutions (FRSs) designed to enhance drilling efficiency while minimizing environmental impact in harsh Arctic environ...

The Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched in May 2024 carries a novel 94 GHz cloud profiling radar (CPR) with Doppler capability. This work describes the open-source instrument simulator Orbital-Radar, which transforms...

Given its impact on enhanced melting of the Greenland ice sheet, it is crucial to assess changes in frequency and characteristics of summer Greenland blocking. Indeed, the occurrence of such atmospheric pattern has seen a marked increase in recent decades: however, the observed trend is not captured by any simulation from state-of-the-art global cl...

Plain Language Summary Sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs) are extreme events which occur every few years in the Arctic stratosphere (the second layer of Earth's atmosphere). SSWs can have a significant impact on weather systems in the troposphere below, and can increase the surface weather predictability for the next several weeks to months. With...

Species redistributions, whether resulting from invasions or range expansions, pose similar challenges for conservation and management. Redistribution impacts on host ecosystems and species combine with those from climate change, which are already acute at northern latitudes. Using pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, which are native to the Pacific...

Anisarchus medius (Reinhardt, 1837) is a widely distributed Arctic fish, serving as an indicator of climate change impacts on coastal Arctic ecosystems. This study presents a chromosome-level genome assembly for A. medius using PacBio sequencing and Hi-C technology. The PacBio assembly totaled 739.07 Mb across 697 contigs, with a Contig N50 of 10.0...

We developed and evaluated a new method to retrieve ground surface temperatures Tg below the snowpack from Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) L-band brightness temperatures (BT). The study was performed over 21 reference sites providing with in situ ground temperatures Tg-insitu in Northern Alaska from 2011 to 2020, representative of Arctic tu...

Arctic mercury lake sediment paleorecord

In August 2023, we both embarked on an icebreaker cruise ship in order to conduct fieldwork with and among cruise passengers and together with four other scientists. Departing from Longyearbyen, Svalbard, this two-week ship-time fieldwork took us to the geographic North Pole, across the Arctic Ocean sea ice, and to several locations in northern Sva...

Sea ice coverage is a key indicator of changes in the global climate. Estimates of sea ice area and extent are primarily derived from satellite measurements of surface microwave emissions, from which local sea ice concentration (SIC) is derived. Passive microwave (PM) satellite sensors remain the sole global product for understanding SIC variabilit...

Greenland’s next step is decidedly not to become an integrated part of the United States. Instead, the short-term aims are to strengthen the national economy and enhance its international agency which constitute important elements in the long-term ambition of becoming a sovereign state. In this report by Center for Strategic and International Stud...

Lake sediments are used as indicators of the condition of water bodies and the changes that have recently occurred in them and in their catchments. This work for the first time detailed examined two small lakes in Northwestern Russia (Arctic). Sediment cores were collected from the center of each lake and separated into 1 cm layers. An ICP-mass spe...

Autonomously driving vehicles and robots that drive in public environments need to be safe and reliable under all weather conditions, including arctic winter conditions. Digital twins provide an opportunity to test autonomous vehicles in a safer, faster, and less expensive environment than carrying out tests in real-life conditions. We developed th...

In Arctic warm-air intrusions (WAIs), airmasses undergo a series of radiative, turbulent, cloud and precipitation processes, the sum of which constitutes the airmass transformation. During the Arctic airmass transformation, heat and moisture is transferred from the airmass to the Arctic environment, melting the sea-ice and potentially reinforcing f...

This paper analyzes physical tipping points in the climate system and their implications for national security, food security and social stability. Physical tipping points are critical states in the climate system that, once passed, lead to irreversible, rapid, and self-accelerating changes. Major tipping points include melting glaciers and rising...

An unexpected record-breaking cold event struck eastern China in December 2023, causing widespread transportation shutdowns, power supply shortages, and agricultural crop damage. The manner in which such an extraordinary cold event was formed under global warming is unclear, as is the way in which anthropogenic climate change may affect the present...

This study focuses on morphological features of several skulls of the Ancient Koryak culture from the burial grounds of Mys Bratyev, Mys Bratyev-4, Astronomicheskaya-2 and -9, and Mys Astronomichesky, located on the coast of the Babushkin Bay in Ola District of Magadan Region. Earlier study revealed that the Ancient Koryak population was heterogene...

We construct a linear model of microseism power as a function of sea‐ice concentration and ocean‐wave activity with a seismic station located on northern Ellesmere Island. The influence of wind‐ice‐ocean interactions on microseism has been taken into account. We find the increase in microseism power over the last 32 years reflects the long‐term los...

This study presents a comprehensive comparative analysis of three primary datasets commonly employed to evaluate shipping patterns in Arctic waters: 1) Northern Canada Vessel Traffic Zone (NORDREG), 2) satellite-based Automatic Identification System (S-AIS) from a private provider, and 3) the Arctic Ship Traffic Database (ASTD). Covering the years...

Using the simulation results from the CMIP6 global climate models, we calculate the projected changes of different kinds of Arctic cyclones (ACs) in the twenty-first century and examine the characteristics related to the Arctic cyclones under two shared socio-economic pathways (SSP1-2.6, SSP5-8.5). There is a significant decline of ACs during winte...

The study of the influence of microorganisms on the formation of deep- and shallow-water ore deposits is a promising topic in environmental science. This problem, along with the role of organic matter in the growth of Fe-Mn nodules, remains understudied. This study focuses on the analysis of the composition and content of fatty acids in fast-growin...

Recent rapid sea ice reduction in the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean is potentially associated with inflow of Pacific-origin water via the Bering Strait. For the first time, we detected remarkable subsurface warming around the Chukchi Borderland in the Arctic Ocean over the recent two decades (i.e., the early 21st century). A statistically sign...

Estimating the magnitude of the Arctic equilibrium climate sensitivity is key for understanding the climate dynamics of this polar region. Using a linear regression model, we find that the Arctic equilibrium climate sensitivity is 3.61°C. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that an estimate of the Arctic equilibrium climate sensiti...

We report on the first multi-year kilometre-scale global coupled simulations using ECMWF's Integrated Forecasting System (IFS) coupled to both the NEMO and FESOM ocean–sea ice models, as part of the H2020 Next Generation Earth Modelling Systems (nextGEMS) project. We focus mainly on an unprecedented IFS-FESOM coupled setup, with an atmospheric reso...

In this work, we examine connections between patterns of future Greenland precipitation and large-scale atmospheric circulation changes over the Northern Hemisphere. In the last three decades of the 21st century, CMIP5 and CMIP6 ensemble mean precipitation significantly decreases over the northern part of the North Atlantic Ocean with respect to 19...

Trump’s Arctic ambitions signal a “New Great Game”, with Greenland at the heart of a geopolitical contest over strategic resources, military positioning, and polar trade routes. US concerns about Chinese and Russian influence underpin scenarios ranging from diplomatic engagement, economic pressure, or aggressive unilateralism. Each risks geopolitic...

Satellite observations provide valuable information on the rapidly increasing marine heatwaves over the Arctic Ocean, yet current assessments of these events lack reliability because the satellite-based temperature in ice-covered regions heavily relies on ice conditions. Here we compared the marine heatwaves derived from two commonly used satellite...

Climate change is expected to increase water related diseases globally, particularly in the Arctic. In Norway, most of the population is served drinking water produced from surface water. An ageing water distribution system is a growing problem, which represents risk factors during extreme rainfall events. However, the impacts of climate change on...

The fungus Psychrophilomyces antarcticus M.M. Wang & Xing Z. Liu, previously known only from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Antarctica, was isolated in the Arctic from sediments on the littoral of the Kara Sea (Sho-kalsky Island) and represented by strains VKM F-5025/CBS 151455 and VKM F-5026/CBS 151456. The macro-and micro-morphology of the isolate...

It is well established that the anomalous sea surface temperatures caused by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) can impact polar stratospheric ozone concentrations in 2–3 months. In recent years, the climatic impact of stratospheric ozone has received widespread attention. Some studies even suggest that Arctic stratospheric ozone (ASO) can aff...

The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) faces serious demographic challenges. One of the most important among them is the imbalance of population flows within internal migration. This paper examines the patterns of internal migration in the Republic, based on the distribution of municipal districts (uluses) by economic zones designated by the authorities f...

Involving people in energy systems planning can increase the legitimacy and socio-political feasibility of energy transitions. Participatory research in energy modelling offers the opportunity to engage with stakeholders in a comprehensive way, but is limited by how results can be generated and presented without imposing assumptions and discrete sc...

Accurate and precise observations of atmospheric greenhouse gas mixing ratios are crucial for understanding the carbon cycle. However, challenges can arise when comparing data between different observation sites, due to different measurement routines and data formats used. To combat these challenges, different research infrastructures have been est...

Forest wildfires in interior Alaska represent an important black carbon (BC) source for the Arctic and sub-Arctic. However, BC observations in interior Alaska have not been sufficient to constrain the range of existing emissions. Here, we show our observations of BC mass concentrations and carbon monoxide (CO) mixing ratios in the Poker Flat Resear...

This paper introduces and details the development of a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model designed to predict Arctic ice thickness, serving as a decision-making tool for maritime navigation. By forecasting ice conditions accurately, the model aims to support safer and more efficient shipping through Arctic waters. The primary objective is to equip...

The retreat of Arctic sea ice has opened new maritime routes, offering faster shipping opportunities; however, these routes present significant navigational challenges due to the harsh ice conditions. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a deep learning-based Arctic ice risk management architecture with multiple modules, including ice c...

Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning have led to neural networks being used to generate lightning-speed answers to complex questions, to paint like Monet, or to write like Proust. Leveraging their computational speed and flexibility, neural networks are also being used to facilitate fast, likelihood-free statistical infere...

Global warming plays a central role in the decline of Arctic sea ice, but the mechanisms remain debated. This study investigates the relationship between Sea Ice Area (SIA) and Sea Surface Temperature (SST) in the Arctic Ocean, analyzing satellite remote sensing data from 1982 to 2023. Results indicate that SST is a primary factor contributing to t...

High latitude dust (HLD) is receiving growing research interest as its relative impact in the Arctic has been elucidated. Precise knowledge of HLD emission locations is limited in both field studies and satellite observations, leading to a general lack of representation in global models. Using the Frequency of Occurrence (FoO) of above-average Dust...

The Arctic climate system exhibits dramatic changes in autumn, yet its connection to the tropics remains unclear. This study leverages inter-basin/region teleconnectivity (IB(R)T) analysis to unveil the key teleconnected regions responsible for the connection between autumn Arctic temperature and tropical sea surface temperature (SST). A robust pos...

Using the Global‐scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) and the Global Ultraviolet Imager (GUVI), we examine the impact of sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs) on the changes of thermospheric composition during the 2018–2019 and 2020–2021 Arctic SSWs and the 2019 Antarctic SSW. Contributions of planetary waves, gravity waves, and migrating...

Arctic sea ice has provided a historical barrier for killer whale (Orcinus orca) entry, but that barrier is now depleting as the sea ice melts due to global climate change. This study used passive acoustic monitoring to describe changes in broad-scale killer whale presence in the U.S. Arctic associated with declining sea ice. Passive acoustic data...

The radiative transfer model libRadtran has been used to investigate the impact of cirrus cloud thinning (CCT) during Arctic winter by using CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) remote sensing retrievals to create vertical profiles of cirrus cloud ice particle effective diameter and ice water content for cirru...

Arctic permafrost is undergoing rapid changes due to climate warming in high latitudes. Retrogressive thaw slumps (RTS) are one of the most abrupt and impactful thermal-denudation events that change Arctic landscapes and accelerate carbon feedbacks. Their spatial distribution remains poorly characterised due to time-intensive conventional mapping m...

Remote-sensing (RS)-based estimates of Arctic dust are oftentimes overestimated due to a failure in separating out the dust contribution from that of spatially homogeneous clouds or low-altitude cloud-like plumes. A variety of illustrations are given with a particular emphasis on questionable claims of using brightness temperature differences (BTDs...

Understanding of bimanual hand-object interaction plays an important role in robotics and virtual reality. However, due to significant occlusions between hands and object as well as the high degree-of-freedom motions, it is challenging to collect and annotate a high-quality, large-scale dataset, which prevents further improvement of bimanual hand-o...

Pressure ridges, formed by sea ice deformation, affect momentum transfer in the Arctic Ocean and support a larger biomass than the surrounding-level ice. Although trends in Arctic sea ice thickness and concentration are well documented, changes in ridge morphology remain unclear. This study provides airborne-based evidence of a shift towards a smoo...

The Siberian Arctic is warming rapidly, causing permafrost to thaw and altering the biogeochemistry of aquatic environments, with cascading effects on the coastal and shelf ecosystems of the Arctic Ocean. The Lena River, one of the largest Arctic rivers, drains a catchment dominated by permafrost. Baseline discharge biogeochemistry data are necessa...

Marine heatwaves (MHWs), defined as extreme ocean warming episodes, have strengthened over the past decades. High-resolution climate models improve understanding of MHWs under global warming, but such events in the future Arctic are currently overlooked. In a high-resolution climate model, we find Arctic MHWs intensify on orders of magnitude during...

The northern permafrost regions are increasingly experiencing frequent and intense extreme events, with a rise in the occurrence of compound extreme events. Many climate-related hazards in these areas are driven by such compound events, significantly affecting the stability and functionality of vegetation ecosystems. However, the cumulative and lag...

The Arctic experiences climate changes that are among the fastest in the world and affect all Earth system components. Despite expected increase in terrigenous inputs to the Arctic Ocean, their impacts on biogeochemical cycles are currently largely neglected in IPCC-like models. Here we used a state-of-the-art high-resolution ocean biogeochemistry...