[1] Recent attention has focused on the impact of black carbon (BC) on Arctic climate. Here, idealized equilibrium climate experiments are conducted to explore the dependence of Arctic temperature change on the altitude and season of local BC forcing. BC residing in the lowest atmospheric layer produces very strong Arctic warming per unit mass and forcing [2.8 ̇ 0.5 K (W m–2)–1] because of low c...

Between 1948 and 1996, mean annual environmental parameters in the Arctic experienced a well-pronounced decadal variability with two basic circulation patterns: cyclonic and anticyclonic alternating at 5 to 7 year intervals. During cyclonic regimes, low sea-level atmospheric pressure (SLP) dominated over the Arctic Ocean driving sea ice and the upper ocean counterclockwise; the Arctic atmospher...

Methane is the most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, with particular influence on near-term climate change. It poses increasing risk in the future from both direct anthropogenic sources and potential rapid release from the Arctic. A range of mitigation (emissions control) technologies have been developed for anthropogenic sources that can be developed for further application, incl...

The Arctic has featured the strongest surface warming over the globe during the recent decades, and the temperature increase has been accompanied by a rapid decline in sea ice extent. However, little is known about Arctic sea ice change during the early twentieth century warming (ETCW) during 1920–1940, also a period of a strong surface warming, both globally and in the Arctic. Here, we investi...

We examined the degradation of biphenyl and the commercial polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) mixture Aroclor 1221 by indigenous Arctic soil microorganisms to assess both the response of the soil microflora to PCB pollution and the potential of the microflora for bioremediation. In soil slurries, Arctic soil microflora and temperate-soil microflora had similar potentials to mineralize [14C]biphenyl...

Rapid Arctic warming is associated with important water cycle changes: sea ice loss, increasing atmospheric humidity, permafrost thaw, and water-induced ecosystem changes. Understanding these complex modern processes is critical to interpreting past hydrologic changes preserved in paleoclimate records and predicting future Arctic changes. Cyclones are a prevalent Arctic feature and water vapor ...

As part of a project endorsed by the Arctic Council's Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG), a survey was conducted to describe the current status of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in the Arctic region. The English language internet-based survey was open from April to September, 2016 and drew 142 respondents from seven Arctic nations. Respondents provided information on ac...

The Arctic climate is changing at an unprecedented rate. What consequences this may have on the Arctic marine ecosystem depends to a large degree on how its species will respond both directly to elevated temperatures and more indirectly through ecological interactions. But despite an alarming recent warming of the Arctic with accompanying sea ice loss, reports evaluating ecological impacts of c...

The Arctic temperature response to emissions of aerosols—specifically black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), and sulfate—depends on both the sector and the region where these emissions originate. Thus, the net Arctic temperature response to global aerosol emissions reductions will depend strongly on the blend of emissions sources being targeted. We use recently published equilibrium Arctic tem...

By means of a 21-year simulation of a coupled regional pan-Arctic atmosphere-ocean-ice model for the 1980s and 1990s and comparison of the model results with SSM/I satellite-derived sea-ice concentrations, the patterns of maximum amplitude of interannual variability of the Arctic summer sea-ice cover are revealed. They are shown to concentrate beyond an area enclosed by an isopleth of barotropi...