Although much remains to be learned about the Arctic and its component processes, many of the most urgent scientific, engineering, and social questions can only be approached through a broader system perspective. Here, we address interactions between components of the Arctic system and assess feedbacks and the extent to which feedbacks (1) are now underway in the Arctic and (2) will shape the f...

Arctic Terns Sterna paradisaea have the longest known migration of any bird species, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, covering up to 80 000 km during a round trip (Egevang et al. 2010). We report here on an apparent trans-Andean passage by southward migrating Arctic Terns on a route that takes them from the rich inshore upwellings of southwestern South America, over the Andes, to the highly pr...

1 Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway, 2 Fram Centre, Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway, 3 Fram Centre, Akvaplan-Niva, Tromsø, Norway, 4 Department of Marine Sciences Tjärnö, University of Gothenburg, Strömstad, Sweden, 5 Department of Arctic Biology, University Centre on Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway, 6 Department of Global Chan...

Rises in surface and lower troposphere air temperatures through the 21st century are projected to be especially pronounced over the Arctic Ocean during the cold season. This Arctic amplification is largely driven by loss of the sea ice cover, allowing for strong heat transfers from the ocean to the atmosphere. Consistent with observed reductions in sea ice extent, fields from both the NCEP/NCAR...

K. Joly ([email protected]), National Park Service, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, and Arctic Network Inventory and Monitoring Program, Fairbanks, AK 99709, USA. D. R. Klein and F. S. Chapin III, Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks, Inst. of Arctic Biology, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA. D. L. Verbyla and T. S. Rupp, Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks, School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Scie...

We propose that prior to the Younger Dryas period, the Arctic Ocean supported extremely thick multi-year fast ice overlain by superimposed ice and firn. We re-introduce the historical term paleocrystic ice to describe this. The ice was independent of continental (glacier) ice and formed a massive floating body trapped within the almost closed Arctic Basin, when sea-level was lower during the la...

A hormonal-challenge protocol was used to compare the stress response of males of Arctic ground squirrels and red squirrels during the breeding season (May). These squirrels live in the same boreal forest of the Yukon, but have very different life histories and utilize the forest in markedly different ways. Red squirrels had levels of total cortisol, maximum corticosteroid-binding capacity, and...

At around 2040-2050 we will be in a new major Solar Minimum. It is to be expected that we will then have a new “Little Ice Age” over the Arctic and NW Europe. The past Solar Minima were linked to a general speeding-up of the Earth’s rate of rotation. This affected the surface currents and southward penetration of Arctic water in the North Atlantic causing “Little Ice Ages” over northwestern Eur...

This is an interesting study investigating the source Black Carbon (BC) to the Arctic using GEOS-CHEM, a global chemical transport model (CTM). Ikeda et al. used a tagged tracer method to quantify the contributions of emission source the Arctic BC. The authors also discussed the seasonality of transport pathways of BC to the Arctic. In general, the paper is well-written and easy to follow, and ...

Arctic clouds modulate the surface radiation budget by emitting longwave radiation and reflecting incident shortwave radiation. The Arctic is characterized by high levels of anthropogenic pollution that commonly forms a haze in winter and spring, due to long-range transport of aerosols primarily from Eastern Europe and Russia (Sirois and Barrie, 1999). During the Arctic winter and spring strong...