Top

Published in:

2014 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

2. The Arctic Marine Environment

Author : Arne Riedel

Published in: Arctic Marine Governance

Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

The following sets the scene for subsequent chapters of this book: It presents a descriptive overview of the Arctic environment, demonstrating the scope of this term and highlighting unique environmental features of the circumpolar region, while focusing on the marine environment in general and the transatlantic region in particular. The global and regional threats for the Arctic environment are presented to establish a basic understanding of the evolving and increasing risks that this relatively pristine area encounters already, and those yet to come. Next to the primary global threat of climate change—bringing with it increasing sea ice loss, ocean acidification, thawing permafrost, and melting glaciers—developments in the areas of pollutants and chemicals, natural resources, shipping, fisheries, tourism, and military activities show increasing impacts on the Arctic environment.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

previous chapter Introduction to the Arctic

next chapter Environmental Governance in the Marine Arctic

Including, inter alia, AOR 2011, summarizing existing Arctic Council assessments. See also AMAP 2011b and IASC et al. 2011. The most comprehensive overview yet will be provided in the upcoming Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) scientific report, to be completed in 2013, online at <http://www.caff.is/aba > . Accessed 31 Jan 2013.

See also indicator Number 10 of CAFF 2010 for more details on each of the mentioned species of "Arctic sea-ice ecosystems".

For images, see NASA Earth Observatory 2012a. Also, in July 2012, a piece of an estimated 120 ± 5 km² broke off the Petermann glacier in North-West Greenland that connects the Greenland ice shield with the Arctic Ocean (NASA Earth Observatory 2012b).

The Permafrost Subcommittee of the National Research Council of Canada has established a definition that includes “ground (soil or rock and included ice and organic material) that remains at or below 0°C for at least two consecutive years” (National Research Council of Canada 1988).

See, for instance, how the increase in mackerel stocks' abundance rapidly increased Icelandic catches of this species from 2005 on (European Commission 2012). Following the increase of Icelandic quotas, the EU is considering sanctions on Icelandic fishing boats (so called “Mackerel Wars”). See recently Davies 2013.

PAME (2009).

See, for instance, the EPPR working group’s presentation at the SAO meeting in Haparanda (Bjerkemo 2012).

ACIA (2005) Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. Cambridge University Press, New York

ADHR (2004) Arctic Human Development Report. Stefansson Arctic Institute, Akureyri

AMAP (1998) AMAP Assessment Report: Arctic Pollution Issues. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, Oslo

AMAP (2004) Assessment 2002: Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Arctic. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, Oslo

AMAP (2009) AMAP Assessment 2009: Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Arctic. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, Oslo

AMAP (2010) Assessment 2009: Radioactivity in the Arctic. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, Oslo

AMAP (2011a) Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic (SWIPA): Climate Change and the Cryosphere. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, Oslo

AMAP (2011b) AMAP Assessment 2011: Mercury in the Arctic. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, Oslo

AMSA (2009) Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2009 Report. Arctic Council, Apr 2009

AOR (2011) Phase I report (2009–2011) of the Arctic Ocean review (AOR) project. <www.pame.is>. Accessed 1 Feb 2013

Barents Observer (2012, 23 Nov) “46 Vessels Through Northern Sea Route.” Barents Observer. 23 Nov. <http://barentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2012/11/46-vessels-through-northern-sea-route-23-11>. Accessed 20 Feb 2013

Bjerkemo O (2012) Recommended Practices in the Prevention of Marine Oil Pollution in the Arctic (RP3)”. Presented at the Arctic Council SAO Meeting, 13 Nov, Haparanda. <http://www.arctic-council.org/index.php/en/about/documents/category/404-presentations?download=1494:4-1-recommended-practices-in-the-prevention-of-marine-oil-pollution-rp3-eppr>

Bøhmer N, Nikitin A, Kudrik I, Nilsen T, McGovern MH, Zolotkov A (2001) The Arctic Nuclear Challenge, vol. 3—2001. Bellona Report. The Bellona Foundation.

Brigham L (2011) Russia Opens Its Maritime Arctic. In: Proceedings of U.S. Naval Institute (May), pp 50–54

Burnett M, Dronova N, Esmark M, Nelson S, Rønning A, Spiridonov V (2008) Illegal Fishing in Arctic Waters. WWF International Arctic Programme

CAFF (2001) Arctic Flora and Fauna—Status and Conservation. Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Working Group, Helsinki. <http://library.arcticportal.org/1295/1/AFF%2DStatus%2Dand%2DTrends.pdf>

CAFF (2010) Arctic Biodiversity Trends 2010—Selected indicators of change. CAFF International Secretariat, Akureyri. <http://www.arcticbiodiversity.is/images/stories/report/pdf/Arctic_Biodiversity_Trends_Report_2010.pdf>

Cavalieri S, McGlynn E, Stoessel S, Stuke F, Bruckner M, Polzin C, Koivurova T, Sellheim N, Stepien A, Hossain K, Duyck S, Nilsson A (2010) Arctic Footprint Policy Assessment Final Report. Ecologic Institute, Berlin. 21 Dec 2008

Corell R, Barry T, Earner J, Hislop L, Kullerud L, Melillo J, Nellemann C, Reiersen L, Samsetz J, Pearce F (2012) UNEP Yearbook Arctic 2012. The View from the Top [Draft], UNEP

Corrêa ICS, Toldo EE, Toledo FAL (2009) Impacts on Seafloor Geology of Drilling Disturbance in Shallow Waters. Deep Sea Res Part II: Top Studies Oceanogr 56(1-2):4–11

Davies C (2013) Fishermen Back Sanctions Against Iceland over Mackerel Catch. The Guardian. 6 Jan <http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/06/fishermen-sanctions-iceland-mackerel-catch>. Accessed 20 Feb 2013

EEA (2007) Air Pollution in Europe 1990–20042/2007. European Environment Agency, Copenhagen

Emmerson C, Lahn G (2012) Arctic Opening: Opportunity and Risk in the High North. Chatham House, Lloyd’s. <http://www.lloyds.com/news-and-insight/risk-insight/reports/arctic-report-2012>. Accessed 6 Feb 2013

ESA (2007) Satellites witness lowest Arctic ice coverage in history. European Space Agency. 14 Sept. <http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Envisat/Satellites_witness_lowest_Arctic_ice_coverage_in_history>

European Commission (2012) Icelandic Fisheries: A Review. European Commission, Copenhagen. <http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/pech/studiesdownload.html?languageDocument=EN&file=73431>

Evenset A, Christensen GN (2011) Environmental impacts of expedition cruise traffic around Svalbard. AECO, Oslo. <http://www.aeco.no/documents/Finalreport.pdf>

Fisher JA, Daniel JJ, Anne LS, Helen MA, Alexandra S, Elsie MS (2012) Riverine Source of Arctic Ocean Mercury Inferred from Atmospheric Observations. Nature Geoscience 5(7):499–504. doi:10.1038/ngeo1478

Gautier DL, Bird K, Charpentier R, Houseknecht D, Klett T, Pitman J, Moore T, Schenk C, Tennyso M, Wandrey C (2008) Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal: Estimates of Undiscovered Oil and Gas North of the Arctic Circle. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). <http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3049/>

Granier C, Niemeier U, Jungclaus J, Emmons L, Hess P, Lamarque J, Walters, S, Brasseur G (2006) Ozone Pollution from Future Ship Traffic in the Arctic Northern Passages. Geophysical Research Letters 33(13)

IAEA (2012) Nuclear Safety Review for the Year 2012, GC (56)/INF/2. IAEA. <http://www.iaea.org/About/Policy/GC/GC56/GC56InfDocuments/English/gc56inf-2_en.pdf>

IASC, LOICZ, AMAP, IPA (2011) State of the Arctic Coast 2010—Scientific Review and Outlook. International Arctic Science Committee, Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone Project, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, and International Permafrost Association. Helmholtz-Zentrum, Geesthacht, Germany. < http://arcticcoasts.org/>

IEA (2012) CO₂ Emissions from Fuel Combustion—Highlights, 2012 edn. <http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/CO2emissionfromfuelcombustionHIGHLIGHTS.pdf>

IPCC (2007a) Climate Change 2007: Working Group I: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In: Solomon S, Qin M, Manning M, Chen Z, Marquis M, Averyt KB, Tignor M, Miller HL (eds) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

IPCC (2007b) Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Core Writing Team. In: Pachauri RK, Reisinger A (eds) IPCC, Geneva

IPCC (2007c) Climate change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In: Parry ML, Canziani OF, Palutikof JP, van der Linden PJ, Hanson CE (eds) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Lantuit H, Overduin PP, Couture N, Wetterich S, Aré F, Atkinson D, Brown J (2012) The Arctic Coastal Dynamics Database: A New Classification Scheme and Statistics on Arctic Permafrost Coastlines. Estuaries Coasts 35:383–400CrossRef

Molenaar EJ, Corell R, Koivurova T, Cavalieri S (2008) Arctic Transform—Introduction to the background papers. Arctic TRANSFORM

NASA Earth Observatory (2012a) Satellites Observe Widespread Melting Event on Greenland. NASA Earth Observatory. <http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=78607>

NASA Earth Observatory (2012b, 18 July) “More Ice Breaks off of Petermann Glacier.” NASA Earth Observatory. July 18. <http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=78556>

National Research Council of Canada (1988) Technical Memoranmdum No. 142

Nikitin AK, Andreyev L (2011) Floating Nuclear Power Plants. The Bellona Foundation. <http://www.bellona.org/filearchive/fil_fnpp-en.pdf>

NOAA (2012) NOAA Arctic Theme Page. <http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/index.shtml>

NSIDC (2010, 4 Oct) Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis—Weather and feedbacks lead to third-lowest extent. National Snow and Ice Data Center. <http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2010/10/weather-and-feedbacks-lead-to-third-lowest-extent/>

NSIDC (2012, 27 Aug) Arctic sea ice extent breaks 2007 record low. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). <http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2012/08/arctic-sea-ice-breaks-2007-record-extent/>

Nuclear Threat Initiative (2010) Russia: Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste. <http://www.nti.org/db/nisprofs/russia/naval/waste/wasteovr.htm>

PAME (2009) Names 5–6 different routes along the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Reimnitz E, Dethleff D, Nürnberg D (1994) Contrasts in Arctic Shelf Sea-ice Regimes and Some Implications: Beaufort Sea and Laptev Sea. Marine Geol 119:215–225

Robbins L (2012) Studying Ocean Acidification in the Arctic Ocean. United States Geological Survey. <http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2012/3058/pdf/fs20123058.pdf>

Rudloff B (2012) The EU as fishing actor in the Arctic. Stocktaking of institutional involvement and existing conflicts. 2010/02. Working Paper, FG 2. SWP, Berlin. <http://www.swp-berlin.org/fileadmin/contents/products/arbeitspapiere/Rff_WP_2010_02_ks.pdf>

Schmidt CW (2012) Offshore Exploration in the Arctic: Can Shell’s Oil-Spill Response Plans Keep Up? Environ Health Perspect 120(5):194–199

Schuur EAG, Abbott B (2011) Climate Change: High Risk of Permafrost Thaw. Nature 480:32–33CrossRef

SLCF Task Force (2011) An Assessment of Emissions and Mitigation Options for Black Carbon for the Arctic Council. Arctic Council, May 2011. <http://www.arctic-council.org/index.php/en/about/documents/category/7-working-groups-scientific-reportsassessments?download=135:technical-report-of-the-arctic-council-task-force-on-short-lived-climate-forcers>

UNEP (2005) Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Current State and Trends, Vol. 1. The Millenium Ecosystem Assessment Series. UNEP, Washington, DC. <http://www.unep.org/maweb/en/Condition.aspx>

Vonk JE, Sánchez-García L, van Dongen BE, Alling V, Kosmach D, Charkin A, Semiletov IP et al (2012) Activation of Old Carbon by Erosion of Coastal and Subsea Permafrost in Arctic Siberia. Nature 489:137–140CrossRef

Title: The Arctic Marine Environment
Author: Arne Riedel
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Book: Arctic Marine Governance
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-38594-0

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-642-38595-7

Copyright Year: 2014
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38595-7_2