New evidence shows that Arctic ecosystems undergo rapid, strong and pervasive environmental changes in response to climate shifts, even those of moderate magnitude, according to an international research team led by the University of Maine.
New evidence shows that Arctic ecosystems undergo rapid, strong and pervasive environmental changes in response to climate shifts, even those of moderate magnitude, according to an international research team led by the University of Maine.
Links between abrupt climate change and environmental response have long been considered delayed or dampened by internal ecosystem dynamics, or only strong in large magnitude climate shifts. The research team, led by Jasmine Saros, associate director of the UMaine Climate Change Institute, found evidence of a “surprisingly tight coupling” of environmental responses in an Arctic ecosystem experiencing rapid climate change.
Using more than 40 years of weather data and paleoecological reconstructions, the 20-member team quantified rapid environmental responses to recent abrupt climate change in West Greenland. They found that after 1994, mean June air temperatures were 2.2 degrees C higher and mean winter precipitation doubled to 40 millimeters. Since 2006, mean July air temperatures shifted 1.1 degree C higher.
The “nearly synchronous” environmental response to those high-latitude abrupt climate shifts included increased ice sheet discharge and dust, and advanced plant phenology. In lakes, there was earlier ice-out and greater diversity of algal functional traits.
Read more at: University of Maine
Understanding how ecosystems in the West Greenland respond to abrupt climate change is central to predicting and managing potentially disruptive environmental change. (Photo Credit: Sergi Pla-Rabes)
