Understanding a Warming Arctic

November 18, 2004

A recently released report documents widespread and dramatic changes in the Arctic. The report, Impacts of a Warming Arctic: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, is the result of several years of work by hundreds of contributors to the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), operating under the aegis of the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental body whose members include Canada, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Russia and the United States and six indigenous peoples' organizations.

Tundra fire off the Sag River on the North Slope of Alaska

Documented changes include increasing temperatures, decreases in sea ice, increasing precipitation and river discharge, thawing of glaciers and permafrost, and changes in plant and animal abundances and distributions. These changes are linked to human-caused global warming, and are already having serious impacts on human communities in the Arctic. Moreover, the changes are expected to get much more severe in coming decades as global warming accelerates.

Scientists at the Woods Hole Research Center are contributing to society’s understanding of the changing Arctic, and how changes in the Arctic will influence the global climate system and therefore humans everywhere. We are studying the largest arctic rivers in Russia, Canada, and Alaska, working to understand how increasing river discharge driven by global warming will influence ocean circulation and climate over the coming century. We are also studying boreal forests in Russia and North America, with the objective of learning how climate change, forest fires, and timber harvest are altering carbon storage in these globally important ecosystems. Much work remains to be done, but the Woods Hole Research Center is committed to improving the scientific understanding of the Arctic in order to better inform policy makers and the public as they make decisions impacting the Arctic and the global climate system.

©Woods Hole Research Center, 2007