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Hannele Savela Thule Institute, University of Oulu on behalf of the INTERACT Consortium

EU Speaker’s Corner , GEO Week , Geneva , 13-17 Jan 2014. Research and Monitoring of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in the Arctic : What has been done , and what does it matter ?. Hannele Savela Thule Institute, University of Oulu on behalf of the INTERACT Consortium.

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Hannele Savela Thule Institute, University of Oulu on behalf of the INTERACT Consortium

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  1. EU Speaker’sCorner, GEO Week, Geneva, 13-17 Jan 2014 Research and Monitoring of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in the Arctic: Whathasbeendone, and whatdoesitmatter? Hannele Savela Thule Institute, University of Oulu on behalf of the INTERACT Consortium

  2. 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

  3. Whatmakes the Arcticspecial? Climate Nature Biodiversity Ecosystems Indigenouscultures

  4. ArcticEcosystems 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 animalspeciesunique to highlatitudes • Climate change is the most serious threat to Arctic biodiversity • Habitatloss and degradation • Loss of biodiversity • Emergence of invasivealienspecies • Natioal Wildlife Federation (www.nwf.org). ArcticBiodiversityAssessment (www.arcticbiodiversity.is)

  5. What is happening?

  6. The pastyearshavebeen the warmestrecorded 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

  7. The Arctic is changing Time series 1995–2011 of the observedannualmassbalance for the Mittivakkat Glacier, SE Greenland (Press release by S. Mernild et al. 2011 for INTERACT).

  8. Warming of the Arctichasconsequences… • Changes in glaciers, permafrost, snowcover, sea ice • Endangeredecosystems and biodiversity • Invasivespecies • Emergingdiseases • Effects on infrastructures • Societaland culturalconsequences • Human activitiesalsoaffect the Arctic • Globalconsequences Arcticamplification! Meltingglacier: V. Rinterknecht

  9. What is happening? What to do? Canwe stop it? How canweadapt? • Research • Monitoring • Outreach and information Boylooking at dragonfly: H. Savela

  10. Research and monitoring:levels of activity

  11. Project level: INTERACT • Network for terrestrialresearch and monitoring in the Arctic • 58 stationsacross the Arctic, northern and northern alpine areas • EU FP-7 Infrastructuresproject 2011-2014 • One of the GEO EuropeanProjects

  12. Monitoring • Data and monitoringon environment, biodiversity, and ecosystems • Climaterecords, Hydrology, Permafrost, Vegetation, Phenology, Speciesrichness, Populationcounts, Tourismimpacts • INTERACT partners’ monitoringactivitieshavebeen on-going for upto 100 yr! • Real-timemonitoring • Retrospectivemonitoring: Back to the Future

  13. Whathasbeendone? INTERACT strategically samples the complexity of greening in the North 1970 to 2009 No change From space to the ground Xu et al., NCC, 2013 1977 to 2009change 1982 to 2012

  14. Research: Transnational Access • Freeaccess to research facilities, field sites, databases • 5400 daysusedat 20 stations in 8 countries • 360 researchersfrom 136 groupsfrom 19 countries, • Biodiversity, glaciology, permafrost, climate, hydrology, ecology, biogeochemistry, humandimension… • Fromresearch to outreach: Publications, presentations, blogs, teaching, meetinglocalresidents… Photo by A. Sier

  15. Modellingecosystemresponses to climatechange;HOLOGIS, A. Long, Durham University, UK • Reconstructing Holocene temperature variations using non-biting midgesfromthe margins of the Greenland Ice Sheet • GINR in Greenland • Computer-basedmodel of the Greenland Ice Sheet to predicthowithaschanged in the past and whatmayhappenin the future Photosby A. Long

  16. Organization level: GEO Organisationsand projectsworkingtogetherto • Coordinateand integrate Earth Observations to GEOSS • Provide data, results and informationaboutresearch and monitoring to decision and policymakers and users at differentlevels: GEOSS Common Infrastructure • ColdRegions (WA-01-C3), Ecosystems (EC-01-C2), Biodiversity(BI-01)

  17. Whatcanyoudo? Docareaboutit; wecanmake a difference! Citizen science Everydayactions

  18. Citizenscince in Action:Humpbackwhalephoto 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? PhotosbyTennaBoye.

  19. Whatdoesitmatter? • Arctic is home to 13 millionpeople and uniqueecosystems and biodiversity • Whathappens in the Arcticamplifies, and effectsthe rest of the planetthrough feedback mechanisms

  20. Thankyou for listening! IntegratingObservations to Sustain the Planet

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