Research and Monitoring of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in the Arctic:

What has been done, and what does it matter?

Hannele SavelaThule Institute, University of Ouluon behalf of the INTERACT Consortium

EU Speaker’s Corner, GEO Week, Geneva, 13-17 Jan 2014

What is the Arctic?

Geographic: Region above the Arctic Circle 66° 32" N

Biological: North of the arctic tree line

Climatological: Location in high latitudes, where the average daily summer temperature does not rise above 10 C (50 F)

http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/arctic-meteorology/arctic.html

Nature

Climate

Indigenous culturesEcosystems

Biodiversity

What makes the Arctic special?

Arctic Ecosystems and Biodiversity

Ecosystems

Foodwebs consisting of plants and animals adapted to extreme conditions

One of the most productive ecosystems in the world (e.g. marine organisms, migratory birds)

Arctic wildlife have special adaptations to survive the cold and changeable environment

Biodiversity

Plant and animal species unique to high latitudes

Climate change is the most serious threat to Arctic biodiversity

Habitat loss and degradation Loss of biodiversity Emergence of invasive alien

species

Natioal Wildlife Federation (www.nwf.org). Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (www.arcticbiodiversity.is)

What is happening?

The past years have been the warmest recorded in the Arctic

Trends in mean surface air temperature over the period 1960 to 2011. Notice that the Arctic is red, indicating that the trend over this 50 year period is for an increase in air temperature of more that 2° C (3.6° F) across much of the Arctic, which is larger than for other parts of the globe. The inset shows linear trends over the period by latitude.—Credit: NASA GISS, retrieved from http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/arctic-meteorology/climate_change.html

The Arctic is changing

Time series 1995–2011 of the observed annual mass balance for the Mittivakkat Glacier, SE Greenland (Press release by S. Mernild et al. 2011 for INTERACT).

Warming of the Arctic has consequences…

Changes in glaciers, permafrost, snow cover, sea iceEndangered ecosystems and biodiversity Invasive speciesEmerging diseasesEffects on infrastructuresSocietal and cultural consequences

Human activities also affect the ArcticGlobal consequences Arctic amplification!

Melting glacier: V. Rinterknecht

What to do?What is happening?

Can we stop it?

How can we adapt?

ResearchMonitoringOutreach and

information

Boy looking at dragonfly: H. Savela

Research and monitoring: levels of activity

Organizations

Projects

Individuals

Project level: INTERACT

• Network for terrestrial research and monitoring in the Arctic

• 58 stations across the Arctic, northern and northern alpine areas

• EU FP-7 Infrastructures project 2011-2014

• One of the GEO European Projects

Monitoring• Data and monitoring on environment, biodiversity, and

ecosystemsClimate records, Hydrology, Permafrost, Vegetation,

Phenology, Species richness, Population counts, Tourism impacts

• INTERACT partners’ monitoring activities have been on-going for up to 100 yr!

• Real-time monitoring• Retrospective monitoring: Back to the Future

What has been done?

1982 to 2012

1970 to 2009

No change

1977 to 2009change

From space to the ground Xu et al., NCC, 2013

INTERACT strategically samples the complexity of greening in the North

Research: Transnational Access Free access to research facilities, field sites, databases 5400 days used at 20 stations in 8 countries 360 researchers from 136 groups from 19 countries, Biodiversity, glaciology, permafrost, climate, hydrology,

ecology, biogeochemistry, human dimension… From research to outreach: Publications, presentations, blogs,

teaching, meeting local residents…

Photo by A. Sier

• Reconstructing Holocene temperature variations using non-biting midgesfrom the margins of the Greenland Ice Sheet

• GINR in Greenland• Computer-based model of the

Greenland Ice Sheet to predict how it has changed in the past and what may happen in the future

Modelling ecosystem responses to climate change;HOLOGIS, A. Long, Durham University, UK

Photos by A. Long

Organization level: GEO

Organisations and projects working together to

Coordinate and integrate Earth Observations to GEOSS

Provide data, results and information about research and monitoring to decision and policy makers and users at different levels: GEOSS Common Infrastructure

• Cold Regions (WA-01-C3), Ecosystems (EC-01-C2), Biodiversity (BI-01)

Do care about it; we can make a difference!

Citizen scienceEveryday actions

What can you do?

Citizen scince in Action:Humpback whale photo ID

• Collection of photos of the undersides of humpback whale tail fins

• The underside of a humpback whale's tail fin can be used to identify individual whales

• Catalogue of humpback whales that visit Greenlandic waters

Do the same whales return to certain regions in Greenland year after year?

Photos by Tenna Boye.

What does it matter?• Arctic is home to 13 million people and unique ecosystems and

biodiversity• What happens in the Arctic amplifies, and effects the rest of the

planet through feedback mechanisms

Thank you for listening!Integrating Observations to Sustain the Planet